Lin Qiao waved at the cat and roared, "Roar…" 'Come on, I'll ask you questions and you'll answer them, alright? If what I say is right, you'll nod like this. If I am wrong, you'll shake your head like this. Can you do that?"
While speaking, she showed the cat how to nod and shake its head. The big cat sat on the ground as it curled its tail and nodded at her in response.
Lin Qiao raised her head to look at the cat's chin. Alright, the cat was really gigantic!
With zombie roars, she asked the cat, 'Were you and your friends ordered to leave this place?'
The big cat nodded as she expected: It did leave under an order.
'Was it a very powerful creature that ordered you to leave?' Lin Qiao asked another question.
The big cat nodded again.
'How powerful is it? Is it even stronger than the owner of the vibe we sensed just now?' Lin Qiao compared the mysterious creature which caused loud noises earlier with the powerful creature.
The big cat tightened its ears and rolled its pair of big eyes as it glanced around a few times. Only after that did it lower its head and nod at Lin Qiao.
Judging by its movement, Lin Qiao could tell that the cat was very afraid of that powerful creature. It couldn't sense that creature's vibe at the moment, but it still feared that powerful being instinctively.
Moreover, the cat nodded. Did that mean there was a level-nine mutated creature ruling the underground world?
Lu Tianyi, who was standing on a tree, said, "It seems to be afraid of that powerful creature. That creature must be so strong that even mentioning its name scares the cat."
Ever since he turned into a zombie and moved into Lin Qiao's space, he had been spending most of his time with zombies and mutated animals, including the little tiger, Black, and Bowwow, who occasionally came out of the woods to cause trouble. Then there were also those mutated chicken, ducks and gooses, and the roe deers and goats on the other side of the lake.
After spending quite some time observing those mutated animals, he was now able to read some of their movements.
Duan Juan turned to give him a glance and said, "Is the cat so afraid of that creature? The cat's at level-seven, isn't it? I guess the level-nine creature is the ruler of this underground realm. Is it the only ruler?"
That was a level-nine mutated beast that lived underground. Perhaps, even Dong Xiaowei, the level-nine superpower possessor, was weaker than that creature.
As Lin Qiao was thinking about pretty much the same things as Lu Tianyi and Duan Juan, Red reached a paw toward her and patted the ground with it as it shook its head.
"What do you mean?" Lin Qiao saw the cat's movement and asked with confusion.
"Roar… hrrr…" Red raised a pair of forepaws and waved before Lin Qiao's face.
Hearing that, Red stopped moving and rolled its eyes with disappointment.
"Whoa! Did you see that? The cat rolled its eyes! It thinks you're dumb!" Lu Tianyi noticed Red's expression with surprise before turning to Lin Qiao. The latter stayed silent. 'The kid no longer seems sad. How come I feel that he could really use some ass-kicking?
Duan Juan glanced at Lu Tianyi and turned back to the cat to continue observing it. In the meantime, she said curiously, "What's it trying to tell us now? Was what Chief said wrong? But, it nodded just now. It nodded, so the creature that's been ruling this place is stronger than the one we almost ran into just now, right? Why is the cat shaking its head now? Isn't that right?"
"That creature is super strong. I think that's right. Or, the cat wouldn't have looked so frightened just now. I'm sure that it was frightened," said Lu Tianyi.
Lin Qiao looked at the cat and then at the others. She didn't understand why the cat shook its head either. Anyway, she now knew for sure that there was a very powerful being ruling the underground world. Perhaps, this place had more than one ruler. After all, it was a natural law that creatures would submit themselves to the rule of the one stronger than all of them.
Level-nine underground creature… Lin Qiao couldn't imagine what that creature was like, but she was aware that she should never fight it face-to-face.
She still had questions though. Why did that creature only send some lower-leveled underground creatures up to the earth's surface? Were those expendable soldiers? Would it send up all the level-seven and level-eight ones later? Why did it send all those creatures out? Did that action serve any purpose?
Those questions lingered in Lin Qiao's mind. No matter how, she needed to figure out everything about that powerful creature. Some clues might be found through patient observation.
With that thought, she looked at Red and asked, "Do you know where that creature lives?"
On hearing that question, Red sprung up and made two steps backward as it tightened its ears and looked at Lin Qiao with both confusion and fear. Clearly, it did not want to visit that place.
"What? Don't you want to go?" Lin Qiao guessed out its meaning based on its reaction.
"Roar…" Red nodded quickly at her.
Lin Qiao put a hand on her chin and thought for a moment before murmuring to herself, "But, without observing it, we have no way of finding out what it wants. Do you know what it wants?"
She turned to look at Red while speaking.
Then, she repeated the question with zombie roars, "Why did it order you to go out? Hmm… That might be a little hard to understand. Well, what did it order you to do?"
Red spent three seconds staring at her and then shook its head.
Lin Qiao looked at the cat with confusion. "Why is it shaking its head? Can you guys figure it out?"
She turned to look at the others and found them as confused as she herself was.
Lu Tianyi shrugged and said, "I guess the cat has no idea why that creature sent it and the others out either… That's what I think."
Lin Qiao looked at him and then at Red. 'Do you not know why it ordered you to go out? Did it simply order you to go out?' she asked the cat with zombie roars.
"Looo…" The big cat nodded; Lu Tianyi had guessed correctly.
…
While Lin Qiao and the cat were communicating with difficulty, Yuan Tianxing suddenly woke up in her space. The purple color on his skin had almost faded. Only the wounded area on his shoulder remained purple.
He opened his eyes to see a ceiling that he had never seen before. Then, he turned his head to look around and found the outside to be not very bright, looking like dusk time. He moved his body and propped himself up with his arms. After looking around at the room, he dropped his head to look at his own body.
He felt weak. That feeling told him that even getting off the bed and taking a few steps would make him out of breath now.
His memory was a little blurry. He felt as if he had lost some of his memory.
He struggled up and put a hand behind his back to support his body. Sitting on the bed, he closed his eyes and spent a few seconds thinking hard, finally remembering what happened before he fell into unconsciousness.