294 Come At Nigh

Lin Qiao wiped her head with her hand and found that it was as wet as she had thought. With a dark face, she said to Mengmeng, "Biting me will change nothing. Lili won't come out for now. Can't you just follow me? You can go play with her when she's out! Damn! Behave yourself, or I'll tell Lili to beat you!"

While speaking, she swung her hand and picked up her hat before putting it on and then turning to walk out of the woods.

Mengmeng angrily glared at her, but didn't dare to attack again. She was really worried that Lin Qiao would ask Lili to banish her.

"Ah!" Mengmeng, who had no way to channel her anger, turned around and raised both arms to scratch the shank-thick tree, then violently slapped it with both hands.

The tree was rustled by her, and many leaves fell off.

Hearing the noise, Lin Qiao, who was walking out of the woods, gave a helpless smile, then continued walking toward the gas station.

…

Li Zheng and the others made some lean pork congee in a large, bucket-shaped iron pot. As Lin Qiao came back, Lin Hao handed her a large bowl of congee.

"It's Tong Tong's lunch," he said.

Lin Qiao took it over and nodded, then turned to look at the hunting squad. Each of their members was now holding a bowl of congee, squatting or sitting in a corner. They gulped impatiently, seemingly wanting to pour all of the hot congee into their mouths.

Lin Qiao carried Tong Tong's lunch and flashed into her space, then walked to Liu Jun.

"Here's Tong Tong's food."

Liu Jun took over the bowl, then said to Tong Tong, who was playing with Viney by the lake, "Tong Tong, come here for lunch."

Tong Tong was squatting by the lake, playing with Viney's two vines. Hearing Liu Jun's voice, he didn't stand up right away, but continued talking to Viney.

"Viney, I'm going to have lunch. Do you want some?"

Viney put a vine on his hand and said, 'Viney has had lunch… Tong Tong, you go and eat…"

Viney had eaten a few human beings this morning. She had absorbed the energies of those robbers, and had been waiting for Lin Qiao to come in so her body could be fixed further. However, Lin Qiao didn't seem to have time for that now, so Viney stored the energy.

"Alright," Tong Tong nodded and stood up, then turned and said, "I'll go have lunch then."

Lin Qiao and Liu Jun watched Tong Tong walk back from the lakeside. They weren't worried that he might fall into the water, because Viney lived there, and she wouldn't let anything happen to him.

Lin Qiao walked to the lakeside and looked at Viney as she asked, "Viney, how much energy have you absorbed by now?"

Viney coiled around Lin Qiao's hand and responded, 'Lots of it… One of those people had plenty of energy…'

Lin Qiao knew that she was talking about Er who happened to have green power. With curiosity, she said, "Eh? That man also had vines, like you."

Hearing her, Viney quickly wagged her vines and replied with disagreement, 'Not the same, not the same… His vines were red…'

Lin Qiao looked at her with a smile, saying, "It's just different color, calm down!"

'Mama, get down here,' said Viney, 'I can give you another treatment… Your hair might grow out…'

Lin Qiao paused briefly, then looked at her and asked unsurely, "Can you do that? Do you have enough energy?"

'Yes, yes!' Viney said excitedly.

Lin Qiao thought for a moment and then said, "Alright then, but I can't do it now. I'll come at night. Later on, I need to go out and travel with them. I'll come back after we have found a place to stay for the night."

'Alright!' Viney responded.

Lin Qiao turned back and walked to Qiu Lili and the others, then found a teapot on a table. After that, she went back to the lakeside to fill it with water. Next, she turned and walked toward the two small spaces.

While walking toward the second small space, she saw the few zombies sticking their heads out of the entrance. They sensed that Lin Qiao was getting close, so they found some courage to stick out their heads and look outside.

Before that, they were curling inside the small space without daring to move.

While blowing the hot congee for Tong Tong, Liu Jun asked Qiu Lili, "When did she get that extra small space?"

"I don't know," Qiu Lili was lying on the couch, playing with her hair. Hearing Liu Jun's question, she turned to glance at Lin Qiao.

Meanwhile, Lin Qiao walked to the entrance of the second small space and saw the group of frightened zombies, so she asked them confusedly, "Are you really so afraid of her?"

The group of zombies promptly responded with roars.

'Yes!'

'Very!'

'She's terrifying!'

Lin Qiao stood by the entrance, holding the teapot. "Take out your glasses. Don't you want some water?"

Hearing that, the five zombie leaders immediately took out their glasses.

By now, they each had a bag, which was given by Lin Qiao for storing their glasses and other stuff.

Lin Qiao filled their glasses, then left with the teapot. While walking past the first small space, she turned and looked inside. As she expected, the two level-four zombies were soaking in the water.

These two zombies were allowed by Lin Qiao and Viney to fetch water from the lake. Every time, they would wait until the water in their bucket completely ran out of energy before slowly dragging their buckets to the lake to fetch fresh water.

One time, because they moved too slowly, Viney directly reached up a few vines and dragged their buckets down to the lake before filling them up and then sending them back.

Since then, they would always fetch water swiftly.

Lin Qiao carried the teapot and passed by the first small space, walking to the couch to sit down and put the teapot on the table.

"Your two underlings are almost ready for treatment. Tonight, send them out to find energy nuclei," she said.

Qiu Lili glanced at the two zombies, then nodded.

"I haven't asked you this yet," Lin Qiao continued curiously, "Were those two related to you before death?"

Qiu Lili shook her head and said, "Not at first. I met them a few years ago, not long after the apocalypse. Back then, they were still alive. At one time, I tried to get close to some humans, but they kicked me out. Those people were all so afraid of me. I did nothing, but they attacked me. Only those two didn't reject me. They even tried to persuade the others to accept me."

Lin Qiao glanced at the two zombies with surprise, then turned back to continue listening to Qiu Lili.

Qiu Lili carried on, "After that, I sneakily followed behind them. Days later, the two of them were pushed out by the others to hold off some zombies. They were bitten by zombies, and I didn't manage to save them. So, after they turned into zombies, I kept them."

Liu Jun and Lin Qiao both looked at Qiu Lili. No wonder she brought those two zombies everywhere.

Qiu Lili turned around and lay on the couch on her stomach, looking at the first small space and continued, "I wish Viney can restore some of their memories."

Lin Qiao glanced in that direction, then turned back to Qiu Lili. She understood that the latter had affection for those two zombies as they had been following her for years, even though they were just two memory-less zombies.