Lin Qiao sat there for a short while and then exited her space, because the people outside were almost ready to continue the journey.
The people in the hunting squad which was named Fengting Squad were starving for days. But now, they each had a full bowl of hot congee and restored some energy. At the moment, they looked much more energetic than before.
During the break, except for Lin Qiao and Long Qingying who stayed outside, the other female members on Lin Feng's side didn't come out of the car. Chen Yuting and his people saw Lin Hao send food into the car, so they figured that there were some people in the car who didn't come out.
"Get in the car. Check the vehicles, then get ready to go," Lin Feng shouted at the others.
After everyone got on the car, the two vehicles moved toward Sea City.
Lin Qiao and Long Qingying were still sitting on the car roof, right under the sunlight. Lin Qiao felt hot, but she didn't get inside the car, as she needed to sit on the car roof to scare away the zombies on the road.
It was October already; the daytime was hot, but the nighttime had become a little chilly. After the apocalypse, the nights in autumns could be very cold.
It was truly dusty on the way.
…
At dusk, they entered Yuhang District. On the way, Chen Yuting and Lu Changfeng felt stranger and stranger, as they hadn't seen even one zombie on the road! Why?
They had noticed that this morning, but didn't pay much attention to it, as they were driving on highways or suburban areas. But later on, they found that they were strangely safe even when passing by the center of Hangzhou, which was a crowded zombie city.
Lin Feng zigzagged when driving through the city. The city used to be crowded with both people and buildings. Hence, many roads and streets were jammed by abandoned cars, rocks, or other large obstacles.
To hurry on with the journey, Lin Feng didn't especially look for a safe place to stay for the night. After all, with Lin Qiao, Qiu Lili and the other zombie friends, anywhere would be safe.
At last, when it was getting dark, Lin Feng found a club which had hotel rooms, bars, a foot bath center, sauna rooms, billiard tables, and all other kinds of recreational facilities.
As they stopped their cars, all the zombies in the club ran away.
Lin Feng and his people pulled the cars before the club, then got off and raised their heads to look at the front door and the sign of the club.
"We'll stay here for tonight. This building is nearly sealed with high security."
Unlike Lin Feng and his people who were relaxed, Chen Yuting and his squad got off the vehicle alertly, but then found no zombie around them.
Seeing this, both Chen Yuting and Lu Changfeng showed a weird expression.
Why didn't any zombie approach them? This place was supposed to be full of zombies. However, the zombies they saw on the way even escaped at the sight of them.
They guessed that Lin Feng and his people must have something that all zombies were scared of.
The group of people walked into the club. It was dark, and there was no electricity in the city. So, they checked around with flashlights.
Not a single zombie was found in the club, even though this place was all dark.
Lin Feng and his people found the diner and the bar, then started preparing some simple food. About thirty people gathered in the diner, waiting for dinner to be ready.
As no one was paying attention to her, Lin Qiao walked away.
She flashed into her space, then said to Qiu Lili, "Lili, you go out to keep an eye on those people. I need to go down into the lake tonight."
Qiu Lili sat up from the couch, then nodded and replied, "Alright!"
After sending Qiu Lili out, Lin Qiao released the group of zombie leaders and the two level-four zombies. Following that, she walked to the lake and dragged a chair to the lakeside. Before walking into the lake, she took off her hat and sunglasses, and stripped herself.
Tong Tong had fallen asleep in Liu Jun's arms long ago, who sat on the couch, looking at Lin Qiao's back as the latter was walking into the water.
'Her back is beautiful. Her waist is slim, hips are round, legs are long, and her skin is snow-white. She would look stunning if she had long hair hanging loosely on her back.'
'Sadly, she's bald.' Liu Jun thought.
Lin Qiao touched her stomach which still felt weirdly soft, like cotton. As she stepped into the water, Viney's vines coiled around her feet and dragged her deeper down.
Countless vines wrapped on her body, slowly turning her into a jade-white cocoon.
Lin Qiao sensed a familiar energy seeping into her body, and then, her body which could only sense warmth and not coldness started feeling hot. She didn't know if her hair could grow out this time, but she could tell for sure that at least her stomach would recover further.
Her stomach felt hotter and hotter, as if a fire was burning in it. She also felt that her throat and brain were on fire.
A faint green light shone from the jade-white cocoon. A long while later, the light faded slowly, then a dark mist abruptly spread from the cocoon.
The mist didn't merge into the water, but moved quickly.
The moment the black mist emerged, the jade-white vines suddenly unwrapped Lin Qiao.
The black mist covered her entire body. Without Viney's support, her body didn't sink to the lake bottom, but floated in the water.
As Lin Qiao woke up, she saw nothing but darkness. She thought that she wasn't clear-headed yet. However, two seconds later, she suddenly realized that the darkness before her eyes was her black mist.
As she generated a thought, the dark mist gathered toward her palm, and the darkness before her eyes disappeared.
Right then, she found that she was still in the lake.
As all the dark mist had drilled into Lin Qiao's palm, Viney, who had been waiting below, reached up her vines.
'Mama, Mama, you're awake!' Viney wrapped Lin Qiao's waist to send her up.
'Yeah,' Lin Qiao responded in her mind, 'How long has it been?'
Viney answered her question, 'Not long, just a couple of hours.'
Sometimes, Lin Qiao was curious about where Viney came from. She was like a child, yet she knew lots of things. She was affectionate, but also had a wide range of knowledge.
Lin Qiao came out of the water and swam toward the lakeside. After coming ashore, the first thing she did was to dress herself.
"Eh? I think your hair grew out… but short…" A voice was heard from beside her. Following the voice, Liu Jun showed up like a ghost.
Lin Qiao paused briefly, then turned to look at Liu Jun. After that, she raised a hand to touch her own head.
Then, she understood what Liu Jun was talking about.
Her hair did grow out… but…
The hair she touched were very short…
She guessed that even freshly shaved hair could be longer than hers.
Then, she heard Liu Jun add, "Eh, why did Lili's hair grow so long, but yours only grew by a tiny bit? Haha… I wonder if there's a secret relationship between Lili and Viney!"