The zombie dog glanced at her, then at that motionless wisp of black mist, finally uttering very unhappy roars.
"Owooooowooo…" 'I was enjoying the food! Why did you release this terrifying black smoke to scare me? Now I've lost my appetite, but you want me to finish it?'
Lin Qiao took the black mist back and laughed to the dog, "That's because you ignored me just now. I called your name but you wouldn't answer."
"Owooo!" 'How am I supposed to know whom you were calling?'
Lin Qiao glared at the dog and said, "Are you going to eat it or not? You have to finish it, or I'll kill you."
"Ow…" The dog felt so benign when Lin Qiao threatened it. After giving a few sullen howls, it lowered its head and quickly finished the remains of the dead squirrel, even swallowing its fur.
Then, it turned and darted back into the woods. And next, a series of noises were heard from the woods again.
Lin Qiao watched the dog run into the woods, then leaped off the stone and walked toward those mutated sweet potato plants which hadn't been cleared yet. Those sweet potato plants were surrounding those sweetcorn plants.
She squatted to observe those healthy sweet potato plants around the sweetcorn plants. There were holes under those healthy sweet potato plants too.
Compared with mutated sweet potatoes, those fat rodents here preferred healthy sweet potatoes.
At that moment, a white figure descended from the sky and landed on the roof of the car which was beside Xie Dong and Shen Yujen.
"What is she doing?" Qiu Lili looked at Lin Qiao and asked curiously. Xie Dong and Shen Yujen turned and shook their heads at her.
Qiu Lili glanced at the ground under Lin Qiao's feet and hesitated for a second because of the soil, then gave up on the idea of flying over to Lin Qiao.
When Lin Qiao came back onto the highway, she asked, "What are you doing here?"
Lin Qiao walked to the car, then pointed at the field which was now much emptier than before, "We can turn the soil up and grow things here. However, this place has lots of rats… giant rats. I've sent the dog to catch them."
"Dog? Where is a dog?" Qiu Lili asked with surprise.
Lin Qiao pointed at the zombie dog which was just running out of the woods and responded, "Over there. Isn't that a dog?"
The zombie dog stopped near the rock on which Lin Qiao stood earlier, looking at Qiu Lili with fear. It didn't dare to get close to the car.
Held in its mouth was a rat which was even larger than a cat, with a long and thick tail. This time, the dog had caught a rat instead of a squirrel, a giant, wild rat.
"Wow, where did you find this super ugly dog!" Qiu Lili burst in screams at the sight of the dog, her voice filled with dislike.
"I found it on my way back to Sea City Base the last time," said Lin Qiao.
After that, she pointed at the field and said, "We can grow things in this piece of land. But before that, we need to turn the soil up and catch all the rats."
While observing the zombie dog, Qiu Lili decided not to get near to that thing. Meanwhile, she asked, "So, you found that to catch rats?"
She strongly disliked the dog, but didn't try to persuade Lin Qiao not to keep it, or even suggest her to throw it away.
Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "No. I didn't know that this place was filled with rats back then. I kept it because it looks cool."
"Aren't you afraid that it might eat people? What if it rushed into the base to eat the people there?" asked Qiu Lili.
"I surely will keep an eye on it," said Lin Qiao, "I won't let it leave my sight. Normally, I'll keep it in my space, and only let it out in wild places."
Qiu Lili nodded knowingly, then asked with curiosity, "Why didn't you kill that mutated large snake over there? I thought you'd kill it."
Lin Qiao was puzzled for a second before figuring out that Qiu Lili had gone to see that snake.
"You didn't kill it, did you?" she asked Qiu Lili.
Qiu Lili shook her head and said, "No. I'm just curious. You were going to kill it, but why did you suddenly give up?"
Hearing that, Lin Qiao replied, "Well, I felt it was… a little special. It seemed to be very smart. It was going to be killed, but it didn't go crazy. Snakes with such kind of temperament are rarely seen. Normally, a large snake like that could be quite dangerous when going crazy."
"It didn't go crazy?" Qiu Lili asked confusedly, "Is that the reason why you didn't kill it? Why?"
Lin Qiao explained to her, "Didn't I tell you? It's special. I felt that it's like a kind-hearted girl."
Hearing that, Qiu Lili, Xie Dong, and Shen Yujen all dropped their faces in bewilderment.
'What the hell! Who would compare an unmerciful cold-blood animal to a kind-hearted girl? Isn't your way of thinking too weird? Were you like this before you became a zombie?'
The three of them suddenly felt that the world in Lin Qiao's eyes was too strange to be understood. Qiu Lili couldn't help but roll her eyes, "So, that snake was so innocent. It was staying peacefully at home, but you forced it out and beat it up. It was nearly killed!"
Lin Qiao spread her hands and said, "Exactly! This post-apocalyptic world follows the law of the jungle. It encountered someone stronger, so it couldn't even run. It wasn't the hunter's fault. And I've spared its life. I'm a kind person."
"Are you kind?" said Qiu Lili, "Well, you're not a bad person, but you're not kind. Being kind means being silly! Kindness just sounds better than silliness."
Lin Qiao leaned against the door and crossed her arms before her chest as she smilingly raised her head to look at Qiu Lili and said, "Aren't you kind too?"
Qiu Lili was puzzled for a second, then understood her meaning. "Are you saying that I'm silly?"
Lin Qiao spread her hands and laughed, "I didn't say that."
Qiu Lili snorted, then pouted and turned around, deciding not to talk to Lin Qiao anymore. However, in just two seconds, she turned back and said, "How long are you going to stay in this place? Do you plan to go anywhere else?"
Lin Qiao glanced at the zombie dog which was standing by the stone, then said, "I need to wait until it has caught all the rats in that woods."
Qiu Lili looked at the zombie dog with confusion and asked, "When will that be? Aren't we going back?"
Lin Qiao said, "Maybe you can go back with these two? Or, you can go anywhere you want. I need to stay here. We need to turn up the soil, but we're shorthanded now. I'm thinking that… Should we catch a few level-three or four zombies and train them into farmers?"
While speaking, she glanced at Xie Dong and Shen Yujen.
Xie Dong and Shen Yujen were willing to turn up the soil. However, they didn't quite understand what Lin Qiao meant by 'catch a few level-three or four zombies and train them into farmers. She said catch… and train…
Well, people were underpopulated, so she decided to exploit the workforce from zombies. There were plenty of zombies in this post-apocalyptic world anyway.