While watching Lin Qiao's movements, Wu Yueling came closer with her nose covered, but she still kept herself one or two meters away from them.
Lin Qiao washed the strawberries, but then realized that she had nothing to hold them on, so she paused again.
As she recalled that the strawberry leaves were quite large, she thought she might as well go out to pick some of them and bring them here to hold these strawberries.
With this thought in mind, she gently put the few washed strawberries onto the ground, then once again disappeared from the space. She exited the space, picked a few large and intact leaves, and returned to wash them with the lake water. After that, she washed the strawberries again and wrapped them within these leaves.
She sniffed the strawberries, and as she had anticipated, the bad smell was now gone.
Lin Qiao carried the strawberries in both hands, then took a few steps toward the edge of the grass. Putting the strawberries on the ground along with the leaves, she stood up straight while looking and waving at Wu Yueling.
Wu Yueling's eyes were filled with confusion when she saw the zombie waving. She tightly pinched her nose and stayed where she was, continuing to spectate instead of going to Lin Qiao.
When Wu Yueling refused to come to her, Lin Qiao's ears suddenly pricked up as she detected a slight noise. She turned her head and saw a small grey fluffy ball shoot out of the grass. It stood by the grass, looking at her and the strawberries by her feet.
Lin Qiao looked back at it. Surprisingly, she found that the rabbit's eyes were actually glowing while staring at the strawberries. It seemed that the rabbit wanted to come over but didn't dare to.
The rabbit's wary posture reminded her of Wu Yueling.
'Are these two of a kind?' Lin Qiao asked herself.
Sensing the yearning in the rabbit's eyes, Lin Qiao tried throwing the smallest strawberry over to it.
The rabbit was startled by the strawberry which was suddenly thrown at her. It reflexively turned around and darted back into the grass straightaway.
Lin Qiao stood still. As she had expected, the rabbit stuck its head out of the grass again a few seconds later. It looked around and found no danger, then leaped out and inched its way to the strawberry. After that, it reached forward with its forepaws, grabbed the strawberry, and then immediately turned around, slipping once more into the grass.
Earlier on, it wouldn't eat the strawberry even when Lin Qiao forced it to. But now, it was literally stealing those strawberries.
Lin Qiao watched the rabbit carry the strawberry away in confusion, then turned around and waved at Wu Yueling.
'Come over here.'
While looking at Wu Yueling's sparkling eyes, she spoke to the child in her heart. She didn't know if she could send out her thoughts, but the eye-contact worked indeed.
However, she saw Wu Yueling shaking her head at her in the next moment.
'This… Did she hear my thoughts?' Lin Qiao paused, uncertainty clouding her thoughts.
She picked up a strawberry, held it under her nose, and sniffed. Then, she looked at Wu Yueling and waved at her again while saying a few worlds silently.
'Come over here. The strawberries have been washed. They no longer stink.'
After finishing this sentence in her heart, Lin Qiao stared at Wu Yueling and waited for her response. She wasn't sure if the little one shook her head because she had heard her thoughts or if she was just smart enough to guess her meaning from her movements and expression. Either way, it seemed that they now had a way of communicating with each other.
Wu Yueling didn't say a word, she never had. She wouldn't even say a word to Wu Chengyue, and had always expressed her thoughts only through movements. Therefore, she might have been able to guess Lin Qiao's meaning from her movements.
As expected, Wu Yueling made some movements of her own after Lin Qiao implied that the strawberries were washed and no longer stank. She slowly loosened her hands which had been pinching her nose, then raised her nose and sniffed toward the strawberries. After confirming that she truly didn't sense the bad smell, she put down her hands. However, she still didn't walk over to Lin Qiao.
'Really not stinking? Is she lying to me? Those strawberries are poisonous, aren't they? Will I die if I eat them? But, that rabbit ate some last time and it didn't die.' As these thoughts ran through her head, Wu Yueling look at Lin Qiao and struggled.
Lin Qiao sensed her thoughts. Instead of standing there, she slightly turned her body and sat on the ground by the strawberries. Then, she picked up a strawberry and smelled its sweet aroma. No wonder that rabbit ran over so fast. Clearly, its sense of smell was quite sharp as well.
However, this sweet aroma held little attraction for Lin Qiao, and didn't awaken her appetite. Instead, it was the smell of Wu Yueling that had been making her drool this whole time.
She glanced at Wu Yueling meaningfully and waved at her again. Seeing that Wu Yueling was finally coming over, she pointed at the strawberry in her hand, then put it into her own mouth and took a bite.
The strawberry had a soft and smooth texture, but Lin Qiao still couldn't taste its flavor.
Unlike its skin, the flesh of the strawberries was pink.
Lin Qiao finished the strawberry with a few bites, then spread her open hands toward Wu Yueling.
Wu Yueling had already started to believe her a little by now. She slowly walked over, and while walking, she sniffed the air for a trace of that bad odor which she had sensed earlier.
However, even as she came close to Lin Qiao, she couldn't smell that awful odor again.
Lin Qiao picked up a beautiful and plump strawberry, then handed it to her. The strawberry still had drops of water on it, making it look tempting in its own way.
'Eat, not poisonous.' Lin Qiao said to Wu Yueling with her eyes.
She was worried that Wu Yueling wouldn't understand her meaning, so she pointed at the strawberry, then waved her hand and swept it across her own neck. After doing that, she closed her eyes, tilted her head, and rolled out her tongue to imitate death for Wu Yueling.
However, the kid was only confused by all that.
Moments ago, Wu Yueling had already understood her meaning. However, seeing her make such a scary look, the child immediately felt weird and didn't know how to react.
Lin Qiao opened her eyes and looked at Wu Yueling's blank face. She didn't sense the latter's thoughts, but the kid looked at her in a way that one might look at a psychopath, making her fall silent.
She was despised by this little kid, wasn't she?
After staring at the weirdly acting Lin Qiao for a few moments, Wu Yueling silently reached out a hand and took the strawberry which Lin Qiao had held out for her, carefully putting it under her nose and sniffing it. She smelled a nice, sweet aroma instead of the bad odor, then squeezed it and found that it was a little soft.
Lin Qiao raised a finger and then pointed it at her mouth. She meant to encourage Wu Yueling to take a bite and taste the strawberry. However, the latter looked at her with hesitation, doubting for quite a while.
She didn't dare eat it, as she was afraid that it might be poisonous. However, the strawberry now smelled quite delicious. It smelled so good, so sweet! Would it taste quite sweet as well?
Seeing her struggling look, Lin Qiao knew what she was thinking without even sensing her thoughts. She then pointed in the direction where the rabbit had disappeared while speaking to her silently with her eyes, 'It's alright. The rabbit didn't die.'
Finally, Wu Yueling could no longer resist the temptation of the strawberry's aroma and opened her mouth, making a gentle, small bite. She had chosen to believe Lin Qiao.
A sweet and slightly sour flavor spread from the tip of her tongue, immediately making her eyes shine. She then took a larger bite, after which, she began eating with an enjoyable face, no longer caring whether the strawberry was poisonous or not.
She munched on the strawberry readily. After all, her stomach had been empty as she had been starving for quite long.
Seeing that the little girl had finally eaten something, Lin Qiao felt slightly relieved. However, the former couldn't live on strawberries, so she still needed to find her some other food. As she didn't plan to send her back for the time being, she had to go and find her some more food.
She also needed to find herself some clothes, and beyond that, needed to figure out a way to improve her body condition, as staying this stiff was not a solution. Also, her level seemed to be a bit low and her strength was too poor. She had to grow her strength!
In her current condition, if she encountered level-five zombie leaders or superpowered human beings at level-five or above, she would be totally beaten up. She might have time to hide in her space only if she were lucky.
The problem was that she didn't know how to improve her strength. Should she kill zombies and take zombie nuclei like the other zombies did? But earlier on, that level-three zombie's nucleus hadn't seemed to benefit her at all, did it?
Or, should she kill human beings and collect their energy nuclei?
She couldn't just randomly kill human beings! If the targets were villains…That was a workable thought—this apocalyptic world had provided no shortage of villains!
Wasn't Lu Tianyu a villain? What about the ones who got her killed?
If Lin Qiao restored her strength now, she would no longer need to worry about Lin Yong and her other enemies. She could directly pick a fight with them and even have a chance of winning!
All in all, if she were going to head South to find her family, she must improve her strength beforehand. After all, she didn't know what she might run into on her way! In this world, zombies weren't the only things to fear.
Thinking of these things, Lin Qiao turned around and prepared to exit the space. But suddenly, she thought of the little one's aggrieved and lost expression and realized that the child might feel bored or afraid of staying here alone.
'Why not catch that rabbit for her to play with? But then, although the rabbit is small, it looks rather fierce, doesn't it? Will it bite?' Lin Qiao thought.
Lin Qiao focused her ears, carefully listening for noises from the surrounding grasses, then sniffed around with her nose to confirm the little rabbit's location. After that, she stood up and turned around, slowly walking into the grass.
Wu Yueling watched her curiously, wondering what she was going to do. Quite a while later, she saw Lin Qiao come out while carrying that rabbit.
Lin Qiao gripped the soft fur behind the rabbit's neck, which had curled up its legs, dropped its ears, and widened its red eyes. Its two forepaws were still holding the half-eaten strawberry.
She walked up to Wu Yueling and handed the rabbit to her. The girl raised her head and looked at her, then glanced at the rabbit. Her expression was blank and a little confused.
'Is this for me? I don't want it! This rabbit is so ugly! I don't want it!'
Wu Yueling glanced at it a couple of times, then suddenly turned her face which registered a dislike.
Sensing her thoughts, Lin Qiao was a little speechless.
Didn't all little girls like fluffy animals? Wasn't that what people said? Who was the dumba*s who said that? Besides, although this rabbit looked ashy, it was not ugly! Its eyes were very round, its ears were long, and its buck teeth were cute. It was actually quite adorable!
Lin Qiao held the rabbit to her own face and looked at it carefully. After confirming that it was indeed quite adorable, she offered the rabbit to Wu Yueling again.
Wu Yueling once again turned her head without glancing at the rabbit and continued to silently eat her strawberries.
Lin Qiao had no choice but to put the rabbit down. She then poked Wu Yueling's head with her finger. This child hadn't washed her hair for many days, so her ponytail was now loose and greasy.
Wu Yueling raised her head to look at Lin Qiao as the latter poked her.
Lin Qiao first pointed at the sky with her finger, then pointed at herself. After that, she suddenly vanished.
With these gestures, she was trying to warn Wu Yueling that she would be leaving.
Seeing Lin Qiao disappear suddenly, Wu Yueling paused for a second, then her eyes turned red and her lips quivered. She looked around in panic but didn't see Lin Qiao. Maybe because she had experienced this a few times and had gotten used to this already, she calmed back down after glancing around again and confirming that Lin Qiao had truly left this place.
She quietly continued to eat her strawberry, finally finishing a whole one. After that, she lowered her head and looked at the rest of the strawberries beside her, then soon picked another one and continued eating.
...
Lin Qiao gazed around at the strawberry field after exiting the space. The moonlight poured onto the ground, casting a faint silvery glow. As the strawberries couldn't be stored in her space for too long after being picked, she wondered if she could plant some strawberry plants in her space and make them grow.
She made a move once she had this idea, immediately bending over in the strawberry field and digging up the roots of a strawberry plant. She didn't know how to transplant, so she simply dug out the entire strawberry plant along with the soil, then directly threw it into her space.
Fortunately, her claws were useful and allowed her to dig into the ground easily. However, her movements were slow due to her poor flexibility. Finally an hour later, a large area of this strawberry field was emptied by a zombie named Lin Qiao.
After digging up tens of strawberry plants, Lin Qiao stopped and then flashed into her space.
Once she was in the space, she found that the strawberry plants had been thrown into the middle of the grass, crushing the grasses to the ground. At the moment, Wu Yueling stood quite far away while holding the last two washed strawberries.
Many strawberries were still hanging on the strawberry plants that Lin Qiao had thrown in, so the entire place stank due to the unwashed fruit.
Lin Qiao wasn't bothered by the stench, so she slowly separated these strawberry plants and then began digging holes in her space. After digging, she directly planted these strawberries in.
This series of movements took her a long while. After she finished planting the strawberries, she stood up and glanced at Wu Yueling, only to find that the kid had moved to the other side of the lake and was curled up asleep on the grasses.
Lin Qiao suddenly slapped her own forehead. She should have brought something to sleep on first, but she hadn't thought about that.
The little one looked so pitiful while sleeping on the grasses like this!
She went to the lakeside and washed her hands. After carefully washing the soil off her hands, she looked back at the planted strawberries. The strawberries plants were wilting, and she would need to water them later on.
She again flashed out of the space, then glanced around her and spotted a house-like building in the near distance. It should be where the owner of this strawberry field had lived before the apocalyptic era started.
She walked toward the house and soon arrived there, albeit with a bit of an effort.
It was a flat-roofed house. The door and windows were shabby, and the things inside the house had been ransacked and carelessly thrown about. This house had clearly been looted, but that must have had happened a very long time ago, because everything was covered by a thick layer of dust now.
Lin Qiao walked inside and took a look around. Not much was left in there, as everything of use had already been taken away.
She wandered around, searching through the living room and bedroom, but failed to find even a rotten quilt. She found a dusty mat which hadn't broken even after such a long time because it was made from bamboo.
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