32 The Change of the Claws

Lin Qiao picked up the mat, then walked out of the house and hung it on a handrail outside. After doing this, she broke off a sturdy twig with leaves on it and whacked the bamboo mat hard, sending dust flying into the air.

She instinctively covered her nose before stretching out her hand which was holding the twig and continuing to whack and sweep, even though the dust couldn't cause any irritation obviously.

She stopped until she saw no more dust rising, then turned around and walked back into the room.

This was the only house nearby, so she had no other place to go and search for the things she needed immediately. Besides the mat, she also found a few old clothes there. Some of them were already worn down, but fortunately, a few items were still wearable. Although those were all menswear, she didn't care as she just needed something to cover herself right now, and fashion appropriateness was the last of her worries.

She shook those clothes, stirring up another wave of dust…

At last, Lin Qiao found some pots, pans, and bowls, which she threw into her space along with the other useful articles that she found. The bed, table, chairs, stools, couch, and some other things were also thrown into her space.

After looking around and seeing that she had nearly emptied the house, Lin Qiao turned around and entered her space.

Before this, nothing but grasses had existed in her space. She wouldn't have cared about this if she were alone. She was able to fall asleep by lying randomly on the ground anyway, although zombies didn't seem to need sleep.

But now, she was responsible for a child, and surely couldn't let her sleep on the ground! The child had a blanket before, but she had torn it apart.

Fortunately, some people had lived near this strawberry field before, and a few of their belongings were still useable.

Lin Qiao threw everything she could find into her space and piled them up on a spot far away from her own strawberry field. After returning to her space, she started to get busy with dusting and cleaning those things.

She picked up a piece of rag and wetted it with the lake water, then wiped the bed, tables, chairs, and all the other articles with it. After being done with that, she washed the pots, pans, and bowls. Having washed everything, she dragged the plank bed to a flat area, nipped off a huge bunch of grasses with her fingernails, and laid them on it, followed by putting the bamboo mat on top of the grasses. 

Finishing all of this, she went around to the other side of the lake and gently lifted Wu Yueling, who was still asleep, then walked back and put her onto the bed.

Once lain on the bed, Wu Yueling didn't wake up but unconsciously curled up her body.

Lin Qiao picked up a large cloth, shook off the dust, and then covered her with it. She then turned around and took the other few clothes over to the lake in order to wash them. After washing them, she directly spread them onto the grasses to dry.

Once she had finally finished up with all the cleaning, she then began watering the strawberry plants with a bucket.

She had been so busy that she didn't notice her movements becoming much more flexible, and her body much less stiff than before.

After watering the strawberry plants, she sat on the broken couch to rest.

She truly didn't feel tired. On the contrary, the longer she worked, the more energetic she seemed to feel. She only sat down because there was nothing more for her to do.

Sitting on the sofa with her legs crossed, she closed her eyes to get a sense of the situation outside. After finding nothing unusual, she directly exited her space from the couch.

...

It was already very bright outside, which meant that she had spent the whole night cleaning the furniture and other things.

She didn't know if those strawberry plants that she dug up and planted in her space would survive. She was actually not that confident about it.

After leaving her space, Lin Qiao bypassed the area that Wu Chengyue was stationed in. She planned to go into the city first to look for bookstores or supermarkets where she could try and find a map to read.

She casually put on a loose fitting shirt. It was unwashed, but as a zombie, she actually didn't mind this too much.

After getting out of her space, Lin Qiao noticed that her body seemed to be much more relaxed and flexible than before. She was now free to make any movement she wanted. It appeared that the effects of the lightning strike had faded by now.

Clenching her fists, she caught a faint weird feeling for some reason. It was as though her strength had improved quite a lot after being struck by the lightning. Was it true?

With this thought, she immediately stopped moving and glanced at a tree by the roadside, then walked over to it with some hesitation.

Standing under the tree, she popped out her claws. Her pure dark claws were sharp, shining with a metallic luster. She glanced at an arm-thick, three-meters-tall branch on the tree, then suddenly leaped up and slashed at it fiercely.

A cracking sound was heard when the branch fell on the ground, followed by a series of rustling noises caused by the shaking leaves.

Lin Qiao observed the branch that she had cut off, and found the cut to be neat and smooth. It looked like it had been cut by a very sharp blade instead of her fingernails, and that too very quickly.

However, as she observed her claws, she found that they couldn't be considered very long, only around ten centimeters in length. However, the cut edge of the branch had a diameter of about four decimeters. How could her claws create such a smooth cut?

Her claws weren't even long enough to do this! Besides, when she cut the branch with these claws, she didn't feel them coming in contact with anything, even though the branch had indeed been cleanly cut off.

Lin Qiao stared at her claws for quite a while, but couldn't figure out how this could have happened.

She stood up, placed a foot on the tree, then reached out her claws to swing at the branches behind the tree.

This time, she did feel something.

It seemed that a few beams of light flashed inside her claws, and before they even touched the branches, the latter were slide by some kind of air blade.

'So handy!' Lin Qiao looked at her claws as her eyes suddenly glowed with excitement.

She looked at the tree trunk, which was about as thick as a slim woman's waist. After thinking briefly, she raised her hand to swing her claws at it hard. 

Snap!

Hearing a clear snapping sound, Lin Qiao looked at the four deep scratches on the tree trunk, causing her eyes to shine even brighter. She moved closer and observed the depth of these scratches, finding that among the four scratches, the one created by her forefinger was the deepest. Two-thirds of the tree trunk had been cut by it.

She then raised her hand and pressed it against the upper tree trunk to push it hard. She had a great strength, and with her touch, the entire tree slowly fell backward along with a prolonged cracking noise. 

She withdrew her hand, then turned around in satisfaction and walked toward the city. It seemed that the power of her claws had been upgraded again.

However, before she had gotten far, she suddenly sensed a few different vibes around her. Those vibes belonged to a couple of human beings and a very strong zombie! Based on the vibes that she had sensed so keenly, she estimated the zombie to be at the peak of level-four or above!

Moreover, she was somewhat familiar with the vibes of the few human beings. Weren't they the few superpowered men who had tried to block her way yesterday?