175 Call Me Viney

Lin Qiao raised a finger, and as she expected, the vine slowly reached the lakeside as it crawled toward her. Seeing this, she squatted and reached her fingers toward it, which instantly coiled around one of her fingers, as if it knew what she wanted. 

'Mama…'

'Eh? Who?'

'Mama…'

'Damn! Who's calling me Mama! You weird vine, don't call me Mama!' Lin Qiao yelled in her head. She couldn't help but stare at the vine which was coiled around her finger in shock, startled on hearing someone call her 'Mama' in her head. 

'Whooo… You're Mama… You're Mama!'

Then, another message was sent into her head. The vine plant believed that Lin Qiao was its mama! At this point, she even wanted to cry. 'Even if I skipped five years and became a zombie, I can't possibly give birth to a baby vine!'

'You didn't give birth to me… You planted me…'

Sensing Lin Qiao's thought, the vine plant sent a new message to her head to correct her. Lin Qiao wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. At last, she thought helplessly, 'Who planted you here in this space? I didn't plant you.'

'Whoo… Mama… It's you, Mama…'

The vine plant sounded like a peevish child. It was worried that Lin Qiao might not admit that it was her child, so it wouldn't stop crying in her head. 

'Mama…You're my Mama…You're my Mama…You are my Mama…Mama… Mama…Mama…'

Lin Qiao wanted to cry but failed to shed any tears. 

'Mama… Mama… Mama…' The vine plant repeated it again and again, and Lin Qiao was soon defeated. She gave up as she closed her eyes and faced a palm toward the vine. 

'Alright! Alright! I get it! I'm your Mama! Stop screaming! Quiet!'

She always felt helpless when she was with children, and the vine was like a stubborn child. Right now, Lin Qiao really needed to talk to it about something else, so she decided to put aside the whole 'Mama' thing for now. Later on when she got time, she would come in and ask it for more details. 

Fortunately, the vine was quite obedient. As Lin Qiao told it to quiet down, it quieted down immediately, but didn't stop poking her palm as if it was having fun. 

Looking at the leafless vine, Lin Qiao thought about how to convince it to heal her zombie friends. Meanwhile, she asked the vine about its name. Since it was intelligent, it should have a name. 

'Do you have a name?'

Hearing that question, the vine paused for two seconds, then continued poking her. 

'Mama, call me Viney…'

'Viney? Vine? So, you do have a name. But, that sounds like a nickname.'

'Of course, I have a name…' Sensing that Lin Qiao was surprised, Viney got little unhappy. Lin Qiao couldn't help but poke the vine with her other hand. She found that it was a little soft, and not as slippery as she had imagined. 

It was soft and elastic, unlike how she felt down in the lake. 

It was time for the serious talk, so she questioned in her head while poking it, 'Can you please heal my zombie friends too? Like what you did to me? Can you fix their faces and enable them to talk?'

Hearing that, Viney soon responded, 'Sure, sure, sure, little Viney can do whatever Mama wants me to do…! But, little Viney doesn't have enough energy…So Mama, you need to find me more sources of energy.'

Hearing Viney agreeing to help, Lin Qiao was delighted. She didn't expect it to be so willing to help. She knew that by sources of energy, Viney meant the nuclei of zombies, human beings, and mutant plants. 

She nodded and responded, 'Okay, I can provide you with the nuclei of zombies or other creatures.'

Viney wriggled like a snake while sending a message into Lin Qiao's head, 'Em… It'll be better if you can find the nuclei of my kind…'

Lin Qiao didn't quite understand, so she asked, 'Your kind? Like plants? Or just vines?'

Viney replied, 'Eh? What're plants? I want the ones like what you gave me the last time…to help me upgrade…'

As Viney mentioned 'upgrade', Lin Qiao remembered the kernel of the vine plant from the outside. She didn't know which level that vine plant was at, but its kernel had enlarged the space by quite a lot. 

'Which part of you has upgraded?' She asked. 

Sensing the puzzlement in Lin Qiao's head, Viney waved its vine, as if showing off. 'Em, I have upgraded, I have upgraded! Little Viney's energy nucleus is growing bigger.'

Lin Qiao looked at the vine bewilderedly. 'Alright, it's normal for you to have an energy nucleus. But, I really can't tell that you've upgraded,' she thought. 

'When I grow up, I'll look different! And I'll be able to move!' Viney sent another message into Lin Qiao's head, making her look at it with surprise. Thinking of being able to move, Viney happily waved the vine. 

As Viney had agreed to help, Lin Qiao nodded and prepared to get out.

'Alright, you go back into the lake. I still have some other things to do. When you're able to move, I'll take you out to play,' she said to Viney in her head while standing up. Once she moved, the vine fell off her finger and drew back slightly, pausing for a short while and then going back into the water, seeming a bit reluctant. 

Lin Qiao stood up and turned, then abruptly saw the few large turtles lying on the other side of the grassland. 'Ah, I still have to find a way to store these food sources! I can't put them in the water, and can't let them run about in the space either. Shall I build a large iron cage for them?'

Thinking of iron cage, she thought of Long Qingying as well. The latter had the metal power, so she wondered if she could make a large metal cage for these turtles. 

With this idea, she turned and exited her space. 

Once out, she saw Junjun and Xie Dong quietly sitting in the room. Junjun was sitting on the bed by the door with Tongtong in her arms, while Xie Dong was sitting on the single couch near the window. He wasn't looking at Junjun, just facing the window. 

Junjun had been looking at him the whole time, and Tontong had fallen in sleep in her arms. 

Once Lin Qiao showed up, both Junjun and Xie Dong turned toward her. Xie Dong looked at her expectantly while Junjun sighed in relief and finally relaxed her vigilance. 

Lin Qiao turned to look at Junjun and found that she seemed to dislike Xie Dong in particular. Then, she turned toward the other. 

Xie Dong looked the same as before, covered in wounds, wearing ragged clothes, and seeming quite miserable. However, the look on his face and his vibe were no longer the same as before when he had just become a zombie. 

Lin Qiao didn't carefully sense his vibe before, but after some observation now, she found something strange. 

"Do…you…eat…humans?" She asked expressionlessly.