"Good girl, daddy will get you another one when we're home," After scooping Wu Yueling up, Wu Chengyue glanced at the little grey rabbit which had already bounced to Lin Qiao's feet, then said to his daughter.
However, Wu Yueling shook her head, and her eyes were still fixed on the little gray rabbit. She didn't cry, but the determined look in the eyes was unignorable.
Wu Chengyue knew his daughter well. Once she liked something, that thing would become irreplaceable to her. But, what could he do? The rabbit belonged to the female zombie. Should he ask the zombie for the rabbit?
Besides, he felt that it was pretty strange for a zombie to keep a rabbit as a pet. She didn't keep the rabbit as food stock, did she?
He had no idea that he had actually guessed right. Lin Qiao did want to keep the rabbit as a food stock back when she threw it into her space.
Just now, Lin Qiao was wondering why didn't the rabbit run away, but came back to her feet. So, when Wu Chengyue suddenly showed up beside Wu Yueling, she just glanced at him carelessly.
Seeing that Wu Yueling was held in Wu Chengyue's arms, she took out the notebook and began writing again. Having finished writing, she ripped the paper off, wadded it up, and threw it at Wu Chengyue.
Wu Chengyue held his daughter with one hand and caught the wad of paper with another. Then, he unwrapped the paper and saw a line written on it.
'Now, I have given your daughter back to you. She's perfectly unharmed. We'll go our separate ways and mind our own businesses from now on. Bye!'
When Wu Chengyue raised his head again, Lin Qiao had disappeared from where she was. He looked around but failed to see the zombie, and the little rabbit was also gone.
"Do you think… she has her life memories?" Meng Yue walked to Wu Chengyue with a frown, abruptly asking a question while thinking.
"Eh?" Wu Chengyue turned back to look at her. His eyes glowed slightly when he heard her question, and then he nodded slightly.
"I think so too. Otherwise, how do we explain her human-like behavior?" she said.
Wu Chengyue had thought about that question long ago. In comparison with those irrational ordinary zombies, and those completely dehumanized high-level zombies, Lin Qiao acted exactly like a human being who looked like a zombie.
She had shown no appetite for human beings, and she knew how to take care of a child. She never ate or hurt human beings; the way she had been acting was completely against the nature of zombies, and…
"She was tasting the snake's blood just now. Does that mean she eats animals?" Wu Chengyue guessed while recalling how Lin Qiao dipped her claw into the snake's blood and put it into her mouth just now. His face showing confusion.
Meng Yue's eyes glowed as she looked at Wu Chengyue and said, "It's highly possible. Zombies have an instinctive sense of hunger. So, if she doesn't eat human beings, she might eat animals instead to fill her stomach. That makes sense. But, we've never heard about zombies eating animals. Those mutant animals don't eat zombies either. They're all infected by the same kind of virus, so I guess they taste flavorless to each other. But, I think that female zombie hadn't been seeing herself as a zombie!"
Wu Chengyue looked at his daughter. While checking if Wu Yueling was hurt, he said to Meng Yue, "That might be the truth. Otherwise, why didn't she eat Ling Ling, who's a living human being? What I'm curious about now, if she has her life memories, did she regain her memories after becoming a zombie, or had she never lost them when becoming a zombie?"
Meng Yue shook her head and responded, "That I can't tell for sure. We should have asked her about that just now! I wonder if more zombies like her have started showing up in the city. If she is hostile to the bases of human survivors, our base will face a great danger when she upgrades and learns how to control other zombies!"
The look in Meng Yue's face changed suddenly as she was speaking. After that, she continued regretfully, "We should have kept that zombie just now, then figured out her condition! By letting her go, we've let go of an invisible bomb which might go off at any time."
Hearing her words, Wu Chengyue fell in silence.
At that moment, Wu Yueling suddenly twisted her body in Wu Chengyue's arms as she had heard their conversation and sensed their hostility toward Lin Qiao. Then, she shook her head quickly when Wu Chengyue turned to look at her.
'No, Sister Zombie won't hurt people!' she thought.
Seeing the look of disapproval in his daughter's eyes, Wu Chengyue sighed and said to Meng Yue, "I don't think what you said will happen. At least, that female zombie restrained her zombie instincts well today and showed no bad intentions toward us human beings. And, I think she might be a Southerner. She's been heading South the whole time, so maybe she's trying to find her family, or go back to her hometown."
Meng Yue glanced at him in surprise and said, "How can you be sure that she has no bad intention toward human beings? What if her zombie instincts suppress her mind someday? If that happens, she will lose her humanity while continuing to be as smart as human beings. She would become like a sharp sword pointing at all human beings."
Wu Chengyue looked at Meng Yue, then at his daughter. Wu Yueling wore a sad look as she was worried that her father might not believe her. Seeing that look, Wu Chengyue smiled. "But, she has even earned Ling Ling's trust. I don't think she's a bad zombie. Ling Ling is so sensitive that she never wants to get near to other people, yet she was willing to be close with that zombie. I think I can believe my Ling Ling," he said.
Wu Yueling nodded quickly.
Meng Yue looked at both of them, then sighed and said, "Alright, I'll believe you. I hope she'll never lay a finger on the bases of human beings, or we'll be facing a serious trouble. Okay, let's go. We've got Ling Ling back now, and we can finally return to the base."
While talking, Wu Chengyue and Meng Yue turned to walk out of the orchard. Wu Yueling glanced at where Lin Qiao disappeared just now, seeming to be reluctant to leave.
When they walked out of the orchard, they saw their car from a distance. However, the other vehicle was now gone.
As they were coming back to the road from the field, Wu Chengyue saw Xiao Licheng staring at the road with confusion, seeming to be stunned. He didn't know what the latter had seen.
"Licheng? What happened? Eh? Where's the other car? Did someone drive it away?" After coming up from the field, Meng Yue looked at where Lin Qiao's car was parked, and the wheel tracks on the ground with surprise, then asked.
Xiao Licheng now came back to himself. With a strange look in his face, he looked at Meng Yue and Wu Chengyue and said, "Yeah… It has been driven away! But, I didn't see anyone come near this place. I suddenly heard the car door bang, and before I could check what was happening, that car drove itself away!"
After saying that, he widened his eyes as if he was looking at a ghost. Then, he suddenly saw Wu Yueling, who was in Wu Chengyue's arms, and said in surprise, "Eh? Little Ling Ling…You found her?"
Wu Chengyue and Meng Yue glanced at each other, as they shared the same thought at that moment.
'It wasn't that female zombie who drove the car away, was it?'
Ordinary zombies couldn't possibly do that. But just now, both of them had seen how special Lin Qiao was. It wasn't such a strange thing for a female zombie who had her original memories to be able to drive!