Liu Jun came out of Liu Jun's room and walked downstairs. In the lobby, she saw that Lin Feng and the others had already cleaned all the couches there. Those couches were still not very clean, but were tidy enough for people to sit on. After all, most of the people had lowered their hygiene standards since the apocalypse arrived.
Lin Qiao walked over and said, "Have you done some arrangement yet? I won't take part in the construction of the fence wall, so it won't start until Yuan Tianxing arrives. I'm heading back to the base now. I have something else to do on my way, so I won't leave together with you. Deputy Chief Xiao, you guys are free to leave whenever you feel like."
Lin Feng, Xiao Yunlong, and Chen Yuting all looked at her with surprise. "You're leaving already? So soon? Alone?" asked Lin Feng.
Lin Qiao stood in front them with her hands resting in her pockets as she nodded and responded, "Don't worry, I've sent out my zombie squad to drive away the zombies nearby. I've also strictly ordered them to guard around the building. Qiu Lili and Liu Jun will both stay here. Only I will leave."
Hearing her say that Qiu Lili would stay, the three who were sitting on a couch sighed in relief.
"Alright then," said Lin Feng.
Chen Yuting anxiously looked at her and said, "How is Jen…"
"She hasn't woken up yet," said Lin Qiao, "I'll give her back to you when she wakes up. Don't worry, she'll be fine." She respected Shen Yujen's decision, and didn't tell Chen Yuting about her current condition.
Chen Yuting dropped his eyes with a slight disappointment, but still nodded gratefully, "Alright!"
Lin Qiao turned and walked out of the Hotel gate. Standing outside, she waved a hand and then an unmodified off-road vehicle appeared on the road.
She was so rich now that she almost had whatever she wanted. She hadn't only put furniture pieces, daily supplies, clothes, and shoes in her space, but had also collected many drivable vehicles, larges ones and small ones. Her collection even included a few electric vehicles and fuel-efficient cars.
She sat onto the driver's seat, then started the car and began driving back. She drove out of the Upper City District and moved toward Jiaxing City. While driving, she had been paying attention to all kinds of scents that she sensed, and the noises that she heard on the way.
Only after arriving at Nanhu did she sense a very powerful level-five zombie which was only a breath away from level-six. She immediately turned the car back as she restrained her vibe and drove toward that area. Soon, she found a botanical garden.
Was that zombie in the botanical garden?
She pooled over, then got off the car and put it back into her space. She observed the botanical garden which had already become like a wild jungle, then spent a while to finally find the entrance. After that, she turned herself invisible and walked in.
The botanical garden was huge; all the pathways in it were mostly covered by thriving plants.
Lin Qiao didn't sense the vibes of these mutant plants. If the mutant plants restrained their vibes intentionally, not even Lin Qiao could sense them.
Lin Qiao moved toward the level-five zombie. Meanwhile, she had also been carefully observing the plants nearby. A high-level mutant plant might also have an energy nucleus.
When she thought that she probably wouldn't find a high-level mutant plant so easily, a loud noise was heard from the front.
The trees here were all tall, so she couldn't find the tallest tree. Therefore, she gave up on climbing on top of the tallest tree to observe the environment. Instead, she quickly but quietly headed toward the source of the noise.
"Roar!" Suddenly, she heard waves of beast roars, and felt a little strange. It sounded like a beast, but not a normal beast.
As Lin Qiao sneakily got closer and saw that creature clearly, she understood why it sounded like a beast but not like a normal beast.
That was a zombie beast!
It was as large as a male lion. The locks of fur from its neck to its back were long, and were standing straight. Its whole body was covered in wounds and blood, its dark eyes glowing with the light of ferocity and its sharp teeth bared.
"Roar!"
It was a giant zombie dog, with dense fur and a scary-looking face. It was even stronger than a male lion, but its skin was badly mutilated. From time to time, some thick and black liquid would drip out of its wounds, making it look very creepy.
It was like a hellhound!
Lin Qiao silently stared at this large zombie dog. Suddenly, she had urge to tame it and make it follow her orders like a military dog…
But soon, she stopped thinking about that, as she was attracted by the zombie dog's enemy.
It was what she was looking for but had a hard time finding--a mutant tree!
The tree looked quite weird. The tree trunk was extra thick—a meter and half in diameter—very smooth and with no bark on it. It was dark-red in color, covered in interweaving blood vines.
There was a groove where the tree trunk forked, and that groove had been emitting an awful stench. Lin Qiao was able to sense it from a long distance away.
That was like the smell of a rotten corpse.
The countless leafless branches of that tree had been dancing in the air. In fact, the entire tree had been writhing the whole time. Those long and thick branches looked like waving monster tentacles.
The area that the tree could reach with its branches was empty
This tree had an immense vibe, which was even stronger than that of the vine plant which Lin Qiao found by a lake last time.
However, Lin Qiao observed for a while but failed to locate its energy nuclei.
"Roar!" The zombie dog stood by the edge of the empty area where the tree couldn't reach, slightly bending its limbs and growling at the tree. Suddenly, it sprung up and charged at the tree trunk. It turned into a black shred of shadow as it flashed across the air like a bolt of lightning.
Lin Qiao felt that the dog was fast enough, but the tree reacted even faster. Before the zombie dog touched the tree trunk, all the branches suddenly gathered before it and wrapped up the trunk while a fraction of those branches swept toward the dark shred of shadow.
Seeing that its attack had become ineffective, the zombie dog hurriedly turned and leaped away to dodge the branches. However, it didn't give up just like that. Instead, it darted up behind the tree and charged again.
This time, the tree didn't swing its branches backward, but suddenly bent its trunk, as if moving away from the zombie dog. At this moment, the dog was right above it.
'This isn't good!'
Watching that, Lin Qiao knew that the zombie dog was going to suffer.
As she had thought, the deeply bent tree suddenly bounced back up, and all the branches stuck together within a blink, becoming like a very strong broom that slapped the zombie dog away.
"Roar!" The zombie dog gave a howl, then heavily thudded against the ground.