Knowing that Mrs. Lin was worrying about her health, Lin Qiao felt warm in the heart. "I'll be okay!" She laughed, "I'm good! Besides, as you can see, I'm getting better and better, aren't I? I can't possibly turn back into a human, but I didn't become a brainless zombie either. I'm just living with a new identity, in a new way. As long as I'm alive, these aren't problems."
Mrs. Lin was still worried. "But… but your new identity… If other people found out about it, they certainly won't be okay with it. If troubles are stirred up, what will you do?"
"I've already talked to Tianxing about that," said Lu Tianyu, "He doesn't know that I'm Lin Qiao, so he's been seeing me only as a zombie named Lu Tianyu. In his eyes, we're simply benefiting each other. I think I can be considered as a special partner of his."
Mrs. Lin looked at her and said, "In that case, he won't trust you with a whole heart."
She was right. Yuan Tianxing was only seeing Lin Qiao as a strange zombie. He believed that Lin Qiao was protecting him and his people for some kind of purpose. Therefore, he had been keeping vigilance against her and her zombie friends, even though they were in cooperation.
After all, he had no idea that Lu Tianyu the zombie was Lin Qiao. Like many others, he believed that one should never intend to do harm to others, but should always guard against the harm others might do to him.
Lin Qiao nodded and said, "You're right. I drew a clear line between him and me, and signed a treaty with him because he's vigilant against me. I pictured the worst future for zombies, so he could relax his vigilance against me. I can't let him, an unhelpful teammate who doesn't really know what's happening, bring me difficulties when I'm trying my best to help you guys, can I?"
Hearing Lin Qiao call Yuan Tianxing an unhelpful teammate, Mrs. Lin spent a moment thinking about what he was really like. He was nothing like an unhelpful teammate.
Yet, she couldn't help but laugh. "Indeed! There wouldn't be a big problem with that if you were not a zombie. Currently, only we know that you and your friends are zombies. The ones from Sea City Base don't know about that yet. I'm afraid that things are gonna change when the human power of this new base grows stronger. Do you think you'll be able to stay here when people find out that you're zombies?"
Lin Qiao replied smilingly, "Don't worry about that! Yuan Tianxing and I are going to divide this base into two, like Yin and Yang. In the future, we won't step into the human area, and human beings will stay away from our territory. Also, I will strengthen myself and raise my force. Believe me, my force will become a super army of the post-apocalyptic era. We won't attack human beings, but we won't let them bully us either."
She made that decision after thinking about the situation of her and her mutated zombie friends. She had been searching and catching level-four zombies these days because she wanted to see if she could raise an army of normal zombies.
Those zombies didn't need to go through a mutation process, neither did them need humanity or memories.
She would provide those zombies with limited amounts of lake water to replenish their energy, because she found that the energy in the lake water was very powerful. The transitions of Xie Dong and Shen Yujen were interfered by that energy, and both Liu Jun and Mengmeng restored their memories under its effect.
She wanted a zombie army. She didn't need her zombie soldiers to restore their memories; because if that happened, many unpredictable changes would happen too.
Mrs. Lin looked at her, feeling slightly surprised. "I didn't know that you've been thinking so much further ahead…"
But soon, she realized that Lin Qiao was indeed a foresighted person. She nodded and said, "Alright. I guess you're used to leading an army. Even after becoming a zombie, you planned to build a zombie army. For survival, having a powerful army is indeed highly necessary."
"How many soldiers do you have now?" Mrs. Lin sighed and continued, "All of them that you put on the fifth floor are zombies, aren't they it? I think you've sent some of them to guard outside, right?"
Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Yeah. Except for Tongtong, all of them are zombies. They're all at high levels, and have humanity. As for the ones who are less human-like and not so good at self-control, I sent them out to guard the roads.
"I see," Mrs. Lin nodded.
Then, Lin Qiao started mentioning the reason she came here tonight. "But, I'm leaving tomorrow, and will be away for one or two months. So, don't go to the fifth floor unless you have to, and don't go out of the zombie wall unless it's urgent. If anything happens, go to the fifth floor to find Mengmeng as quickly as you can. She has restored her memory, so you don't need to be afraid of her."
Mrs. Lin looked at Lin Qiao with surprise, "Mengmeng? That girl who looks like a high school student, with half a face covered in scales? Did she restore her memory?"
She was familiar with Mengmeng. Lin Xiaolu and Tongtong liked to play with her. At first, the adults were worried if that zombie would suddenly go crazy and attack the two children, but then they found that she seemed to be innocent and harmless when she was with children.
Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Yes, her."
"You said that you'll be away for a month or two. Where will you go?" Mrs. Lin asked.
Lin Qiao looked at her and thought for a moment, then responded, "I'm going to Hades Base, to look for the place where I lost my memories."
Hearing that, Mrs. Lin spent a few seconds gazing at Lin Qiao. After that, she said, "You're… going back to Hades Base? Won't that be dangerous? Yang Jianhua and the leader of Earth Dragon Base are still there. What if you run into them?"
"Mom, don't worry!" Lin Qiao said, "I'll avoid them. I don't remember anything about them now, so even if I saw them, I'll stay calm. Besides, they won't recognize me. Therefore, nothing too bad will happen even if I ran into them. Besides, I have a space. It'll be easy for me to escape."
Hearing Lin Qiao's confident words, Mrs. Lin nodded even if she was still a little worried. She knew her daughter. As long as Lin Qiao had made her decision, she would manage to do what she wanted by any means, and wouldn't listen to anyone who tried to stop her.
Mrs. Lin thought for a moment, then asked, "Are you… going to try to recollect your memory? It's strange though. You can restore others' memories, so why can't you fix your own?"
"I'm not sure," Lin Qiao said, "I always feel that I've lost something in the South. So, I'm gonna go and try to find it. Perhaps, my memory will come back when I find that thing."
"I get it," said Mrs. Lin knowingly.