After giving Ling Ling the shower, putting dry clothes on her, and wrapping her wet hair up with a towel, Wu Chengyue carried the little girl to the couch in the living room and started talking to Lin Qiao while drying the girl's hair, "What did you mean by 'I'm the cause'? Also, do you have to touch me to let me hear your voice?"
Based on what happened earlier, Wu Chengyue had guessed that out.
Lin Qiao thought for a moment and realized that she had no other choice but to tell him the truth. She found a pen and a piece of paper, wrote—'For some reason, you and I can't separate too far..'
She didn't tell him that she now seemed to have been tied to his body by an invisible line, and that she had to follow him. Why wasn't it the other way round?
While rubbing Wu Yueling's hair in the towel with both hands, Wu Chengyue turned to read Lin Qiao's note. He first stayed silent for a few seconds, then said with surprise, "So, we're bound together now?"
Lin Qiao didn't write this time, but knocked on the tea table with the pen. Wu Chengyue knew that it meant he was right.
Lin Qiao continued writing—'So, I probably can't stay here and watch Ling Ling for you tomorrow.'
Wu Chengyue paused briefly, then said, "That's right. You can't be away from me, so you'll have to go out of the base with me tomorrow. I guess I need to find someone else to take care of Ling Ling."
Then, he thought for a second and turned to Lin Qiao as he continued, "What should we do about you now? You just said that I'm the cause. What does that mean? How are we gonna fix it?"
Lin Qiao shook her head and wrote—'I only know that you're the cause, but I don't know how exactly this was caused.'
At that moment, a voice was heard from Lin Qiao's mind—'Mama, Mama, I know! I know! Because I've been absorbing too much energy lately, Mama's energy isn't enough for me anymore. So, I need Daddy's energy too!'
Lin Qiao first gave a start when he heard Viney's voice, then felt a little speechless after she heard her explanation.
'Can you please tell me how have you been managing to absorb Wu Chengyue's energy through the air?' She thought.
Then, she heard Viney's voice again—'I was afraid that I might not be able to absorb his energy through a long distance, so I brought Mama closer to him…'
Lin Qiao responded —'By closer, do you mean like keeping me less than twenty meters from him?'
Viney explained with a weak tone—'Um… Well… In fact… I don't know how it happened… I just wanted Mama to be closer to Daddy, then it happened…'
Lin Qiao didn't know what to say.
"What's wrong? Don't even you know why it happened?" Wu Chengyue asked again as Lin Qiao didn't respond to him.
Lin Qiao picked up the pen and wrote—'I don't know. Let's first think about how to get Ling Ling taken care of tomorrow.'
She wasn't able to leave his side at the moment, meaning that she would have to leave the base together with him tomorrow. They couldn't bring Ling Ling for the mission, so, they might need to find someone else to take care of her. However, Ling Ling refused to let anyone else get close to her. She would probably have to stay in her room alone.
She wasn't sure how long Wu Chengyue would be gone for.
Anyhow, Wu Chengyue didn't seem to worry about that as he said, "It'll be fine even if you can't stay. Ling Ling can stay in her room alone now."
Lin Qiao didn't agree with that. What if the kid got scared? Some accidents might happen if she got scared. Lin Hao had told her that she might even try to hurt herself if her illness got worse.
Wu Chengyue couldn't see Lin Qiao or hear her response, but he somehow guessed out what she was thinking. So, he said, "In fact, she won't be scared as long as the rabbit is keeping her company. The rabbit is her friend. It means a lot to her."
Lin Qiao frowned and fell into silence. At that point, Viney followed her thoughts and said, 'Mama, Mama, I know what to do… Let Ling Ling come with us!'
Lin Qiao paused briefly with surprise, then dropped her head to look at her belly while putting a hand on it and asking, 'Why? That'll be too dangerous. Wu Chengyue will be killing some people tomorrow. How can we bring Ling Ling with us?'
Viney said, 'Mama, because I can protect her!'
Lin Qiao was a little confused. 'You protect her? How?' she asked.
'Mama, you hold Ling Ling, I'll show you,' said Viney.
Lin Qiao thought for a moment. She was curious about what Viney said, and also wanted to know if it would work. So, she wrote down a line on the paper.
'Let me hold Ling Ling for a minute. I'll try another way.'
Wu Chengyue had almost dried Ling Ling's hair at that moment. After reading her note, he nodded and put Ling Ling on the ground. Lin Qiao reached out to pull Ling Ling toward her, then said to her in her head—'Ling Ling, Viney woke up. Do you want to talk to her?'
Wu Yueling instantly had her eyes glowing as she nodded slightly. She hadn't talked to Viney for long after all.
Lin Qiao could feel how happy Wu Yueling was even though the little girl's expression didn't change much, except for the look in her eyes. She let the girl sit beside her, then put her little hand on her belly.
'Ling Ling! Ling Ling! Did you miss me?' Viney was happy too as she talked to Ling Ling excitedly. Wu Yueling blinked and nodded in response as she said in her heart, 'Yes, Ling Ling missed Viney, but Viney was sleeping all the time!'
Viney comforted her, 'I'll be able to play with you when I come out!'
While listening to the two kids, Lin Qiao wrote on the paper—'How long will it take you to deal with those people?"
Wu Chengyue was waiting for her to talk about her other way, but before that, he saw Wu Yueling somehow become very happy. Now, upon reading Lin Qiao's question, he answered it without thinking.
"Not long. A couple of hours."
She fixed her eyes on the pen, wondering what other questions Lin Qiao would ask him. However, Lin Qiao was merely holding the pen without writing anything else.
At that point, Viney said to Lin Qiao, 'Mama, I'm doing it! Watch this!'
Lin Qiao dropped her head and saw Wu Yueling disappear from her side.
Watching that, Wu Chengyue was a little stunned, but he didn't panic. Instead, he looked at where Lin Qiao was sitting with surprise.
"You can do that?"
Lin Qiao wrote—'It wasn't me…'
Wu Chengyue read the note with confusion, then asked without thinking, "Not you? Who then?"
'Viney,' Lin Qiao wrote.
At that time, Viney said to her, 'Mama, you only need to hold Ling Ling tomorrow, then I'll make her disappear.'
'Where did you take her?' Lin Qiao asked in amazement.
'Mama's space,' said Viney.
Lin Qiao spent a moment feeling her space, but didn't sense Ling Ling's location. So, she asked, 'Where? Why can't I sense her?'