"It's fine. Even if you hadn't said anything, your team would still be traveling the same route as us anyway."
Song Tiantian's face burned slightly. That was true—someone had just suggested doing exactly that. Clearly, the other party really wasn't a fool and understood everything very well.
"Before C City base, I can guarantee your life will be safe."
Getting this promise from A-Xin, Song Tiantian very readily took off the jade pendant and placed it in A-Xin's hands. A-Xin held the jade pendant and did something unknown—Song Tiantian just felt the jade pendant's connection to her disappear.
She still felt somewhat disappointed, but thinking about being able to safely reach the base, she was also somewhat happy.
A-Xin gave the jade pendant to Han Xiaojiao. Han Xiaojiao raised her chin, indicating she wanted her to put it on. A-Xin helped her wear it. Their intimate manner truly made Song Tiantian increasingly envious. Han Xiaojiao walked before Song Tiantian and patted her own chest.
A-Xin helped translate. "Xiaojiao says, with her along this journey, zombies won't bite you."
"Thank you."
Song Tiantian smiled sincerely—this was the happiest she'd smiled since the apocalypse began. Her gaze at Han Xiaojiao became even more gentle.
A zombie with consciousness was much better than humans. At least Han Xiaojiao still remembered they were schoolmates and lived on the same floor, and had even picked up her jade pendant. Most importantly, she found Song Tiantian quite pleasing to the eye. Even though the jade pendant had a space, the other party could still speak up about returning it. Regardless of whether she had selfish motives, at this time, it was rare and precious.
Song Tiantian remembered Han Xiaojiao liked pretty things. She recalled there were several very beautiful bracelets in the space. Forgetting she'd just returned the jade pendant to Han Xiaojiao, her consciousness subconsciously moved and the bracelets appeared in her hands. Just as she was about to give the bracelets to Han Xiaojiao, she suddenly stared at them blankly.
Hadn't she returned the jade pendant to Han Xiaojiao?
Why was the space still there? Why were the things inside still there?
She couldn't quite believe it. Her consciousness swept through the space—she was extremely surprised. Although it wasn't as large as the space in the jade pendant and there was no spiritual spring inside, she could confirm this was a space.
She handed the bracelets to Han Xiaojiao. Han Xiaojiao was particularly happy and also had A-Xin find some pretty dresses to give Song Tiantian. Seeing Han Xiaojiao go play with the bracelets, only then did Song Tiantian inquire with A-Xin.
"Miss Ning, I discovered I have a space—smaller than the jade pendant's, with no spiritual spring inside, but the supplies I collected before are piled inside. Do you know what's happening?"
She thought that since A-Xin could unbind her from the jade pendant, perhaps she also knew about these things.
A-Xin said softly, "What you gain you must lose."
"What you gain you must lose?" Song Tiantian murmured. She could confirm this space was different from the jade pendant's—it seemed to really be a space ability.
Vaguely, she seemed to understand something. She said quietly, "Could this be what they call a space ability?"
"Mm."
"Then why..." Song Tiantian suddenly stopped speaking. Could it be because she first bound with the jade pendant, and because the jade pendant was more advanced, it suppressed her space ability?
"It's as you think."
Song Tiantian let out a long breath. So she hadn't lost anything, right? Now this space was her own ability space, belonging to herself. She also felt that her mental power seemed to have strengthened considerably. Although the jade pendant was good, ultimately it wasn't her own.
Han Xiaojiao brought A-Xin to continue sweeping through. The difference was, this time there was an additional Song Tiantian following behind. Below, zombies blocked the way, so Fang Cheng's team was quite helpless and could only wait downstairs.
After A-Xin swept through the entire shopping mall and stored all the pretty dresses and jewelry in the jade pendant's space, Han Xiaojiao was extremely happy while Song Tiantian was shocked—just how large was Ning Xin's space? Also, could zombies even bind jade pendants?
Even more terrifying was that the spiritual spring she'd originally treasured, afraid to expose it for fear others would see and have evil intentions—Han Xiaojiao actually brought it out to... wash her hands?? Not only wash hands, but also wash Big Circle's cat paws. Of course, Big Circle preferred drinking it. Seeing Big Circle liked drinking it, Han Xiaojiao simply brought out more, letting Big Circle hold a bowl to drink. Watching this left Song Tiantian stunned and speechless.
Han Xiaojiao knew the spiritual spring was extraordinary. She felt that after using it, her body wasn't as stiff. She found a very large bucket, filled it full, and placed it before Song Tiantian.
"For me?"
Han Xiaojiao nodded, raised her chin, and very proudly led A-Xin downstairs.
"Put it away." A-Xin said.
Song Tiantian wasn't coy either. She happened to be somewhat thirsty, so she first drank a mouthful, then quickly stored away the large bucket of spiritual spring and hurried to follow behind the two. Big Circle looked at her rather enviously. Song Tiantian thought in her heart that she was also quite envious of this big cat. Not doing anything, just acting cute to live so comfortably.
Han Xiaojiao commanded all the zombies to disperse. Fang Cheng's team saw them emerge, along with the empty shopping mall—their expressions were truly beyond words. But what could they do? In the apocalypse, whoever had the bigger fist—who dared provoke them?
Song Tiantian walked back to Fang Cheng's team. Fang Cheng inquired with concern, "Are you alright?" She shook her head and smiled. "Just returning something to its rightful owner. They're very nice." Weren't they indeed very nice?
Gu Dongling also came up to express his concern. Looking at the shopping mall's disappeared items, anger rose in his heart again. He cursed under his breath, "Excessive."
Song Tiantian didn't make a sound. She felt it wasn't excessive at all. Wherever their team went, didn't they also take everything they could? Weak teams could only wait for them to take things before daring to enter, right?
A-Xin led Han Xiaojiao back to the SUV. The big cat also very consciously pulled open the car door, stuck out its fat big butt and jumped up—one meow occupying an entire row of seats. It opened the window, pulled out a can, and under the speechless gazes of Fang Cheng's team members, ate with relish.
Big Circle ate so deliciously that everyone in the team couldn't help but sigh—these days, they were living worse than a meow. Look at this big meow—sleek and shiny fur, fat and soft, eating canned food, that proud manner was really infuriating, and one meow occupied an entire row of car seats.
So happy.
So enviable.
A-Xin started the car. Fang Cheng's team members also hurriedly started their car and followed behind them. Only fools wouldn't follow. Han Xiaojiao could command zombies—as long as they followed them, they wouldn't need to fear zombie attacks on the road ahead.
"Tiantian, they just wanted to get back the jade pendant?" Gu Dongling inquired.
Song Tiantian nodded. "Mm."
"Is that jade pendant really theirs? We never saw you take it out before. Was it very important to you?"
Song Tiantian shook her head. "Han Xiaojiao and I are schoolmates. Although we lived on the same floor, we actually didn't know each other. I picked up the jade pendant at a dorm room entrance—it should have been from her room. I just thought the jade pendant was pretty, so I picked it up to wear. As for important—in the apocalypse, this kind of jade pendant is completely worthless. How could it be important? I just thought it looked nice."
"I see." Gu Dongling said. "If you like jade pendants, when we encounter them in the future, we'll all get them for you."
Song Tiantian softly said thank you. She didn't dare accept Gu Dongling's things. Who knew what intentions he had? This man was domineering and impatient—not a good temperament.
"Tiantian, I remember we stored a case of canned food with you before. Can you take it out for me now?"
Originally Song Tiantian hadn't paid attention to Gu Dongling's concern for her, but when Gu Dongling asked this question, she vaguely understood something. She glanced at Gu Dongling—the other party was seriously looking at her.
She answered, "Alright."
Then a case of canned food appeared beside them. Gu Dongling blinked and opened the cardboard box—inside were indeed the canned goods he'd stored before. Song Tiantian then said, "Brother Gu, are you planning to use these canned goods to reward us?"
"Yes, yes." Gu Dongling lowered his eyes, somewhat heartbroken—a whole case of canned food.
It seemed he'd really guessed wrong, thinking that pendant might be Song Tiantian's space. So Song Tiantian had truly awakened an ability.
The reason he suspected this was also because he'd previously accidentally seen Song Tiantian being very nervous about that jade pendant around her neck, afraid it would fall out. Since Song Tiantian still had a space ability, he didn't need to ask so much. Actually, he was quite attracted to Song Tiantian. If she had a space ability, he couldn't directly do something to make her angry.
If the other party were an ordinary woman, he wouldn't need to be so polite. For a woman who attracted him, whether before or after the apocalypse, he didn't need to make himself endure.
Gu Dongling distributed the canned goods to the team members. Song Tiantian also received some.
As she lowered her head to eat the canned food, her heart beat somewhat fast. Just now, Gu Dongling was testing her, wasn't he? Indeed, this man was very dangerous. Staying away from him was right.
Along this journey, Song Tiantian would drink a cup of spring water every day when she had the chance. She discovered that drinking spring water could enhance her space ability. Five days had passed since that day, and her space range had grown considerably. She also confessed to the team members that her space was now as large as half a room. Of course, her status in the team also rose considerably. Gu Dongling would often come flirt with her—she didn't like it.
In this team, the person she had a good impression of was Fang Cheng. Following Fang Cheng gave her a sense of security. He wouldn't, like Gu Dongling, flirt with her from time to time in that completely uncomfortable way.
Along this journey, Fang Cheng also took very good care of her. She planned to observe more. After all, she already had an ex-boyfriend who'd almost sold her out—she didn't dare easily trust men.
If they could experience more together and he could remain consistent throughout, Fang Cheng was indeed a good choice. She could tell that Fang Cheng also had a good impression of her.
When they stopped midway to find places with supplies to resupply, Song Tiantian would go to A-Xin and Han Xiaojiao's side to chat.
At first, the team members didn't understand—clearly A-Xin had collected so many things, so why didn't she spare shopping malls and supermarkets? Later, seeing Han Xiaojiao happily dancing around holding flowered dresses, they understood. So it was all because of this vain zombie.
Fortunately, Han Xiaojiao was only interested in dresses, cosmetics, and jewelry. Other things—as long as she didn't want them, that woman called Ning Xin wouldn't collect them into her space.
Of course, that gluttonous big orange cat was also particularly annoying!!
It always domineeringly hogged the most delicious things, cheerfully rolling around and acting cute before Han Xiaojiao. This way, Han Xiaojiao would help the big orange cat collect those delicious things.
They'd complained more than once—eating so many heavy-flavored things, weren't they afraid of losing fur? Wouldn't it be better to go to the cat food section? Why insist on getting so many human canned goods to eat?
Big Circle didn't care. It wasn't an ordinary cat either—it could eat anything and wouldn't lose fur. Now with the human servant's spiritual spring, its nutrition was excellent—its fur looked even better than before.
Song Tiantian would give pretty accessories she found to Han Xiaojiao. Han Xiaojiao was very happy and shared many good things with her.
"Tiantian."
Hearing Fang Cheng calling her, Song Tiantian said, "Brother Fang must want me to go in and collect things. I'll come back and chat with you later."
Han Xiaojiao nodded, indicating she should go.
Song Tiantian jogged into the supermarket and indeed saw some relatively important items. She collected them all. What could be called important items was of course rice—there was quite a lot of white rice here. Her exposed space was only half a room's size, so everyone defaulted to storing important items in the space.
She wasn't some naive fool who wouldn't leave herself a backup. At ordinary times when others weren't paying attention, she would secretly collect some other things.
"There are still a few bags that won't fit." Fang Cheng said with some regret. "It would be good if the space were a bit bigger."
Although Song Tiantian was also troubled, she had no intention of exposing more. She only said, "The space has been increasing recently. It should be a bit bigger in the future." She increased the space capacity according to the team's strength. Once team members broke through in their abilities, she would increase the capacity a bit after a few days, also to tell everyone she was becoming more important.
"That's true." Fang Cheng said, while calling the team members to carry these bags of rice to the car. Rice could be stored for a long time—no one was willing to abandon it.
"Why don't we give what won't fit to Miss Ning and them?"
Song Tiantian said. Before she finished speaking, a certain woman in the team mocked, "They wouldn't care. Didn't they collect a lot before? They didn't actively come to collect this rice—they must not lack it."
What Song Tiantian wanted to say was that originally there were many zombies here. If not for Ning Xin and Han Xiaojiao being here, they fundamentally couldn't obtain these things.
Giving what wouldn't fit to Ning Xin—she wouldn't gain any benefits, but at least she could establish good relations, right? Her relationship with Ning Xin and Han Xiaojiao was quite good. Saying these things was also considering everyone was in the same team. Having better relationships was better than anything—this wasn't about whether the other party had it or not.
"I think that's fine." After Fang Cheng spoke, Gu Dongling opened his mouth. "I don't think it's fine."
"What about you?" Gu Dongling looked at the others, then said, "Fang Cheng, don't do this kind of thankless task. They're so powerful—they simply don't care about this kind of thing. No matter how much you curry favor, they won't remember. Just throw down things from the car that we don't need, and we can load these bags of rice. This amount of stuff won't last our team long."
"That's right, Captain. They seem to not want to be with us. Previously, midway, we encountered several other teams attacking us, and they had no intention of helping."
So there was no need to do this kind of useless favor, right?
Anyway, once they reached the base, this relationship wouldn't be important at all. That woman called Ning Xin was still traveling with a zombie—she couldn't enter the base.
No one in the team agreed, so Fang Cheng couldn't decide privately. He could only abandon this idea. He said quietly to Song Tiantian, "Then forget it."
"Mm." Song Tiantian responded. Forget it then—it wasn't her loss anyway. People in the apocalypse were indeed incredibly realistic. But had they thought about the fact that Ning Xin fundamentally had no obligation to help them?
Similarly, they didn't think about how long it had been since they'd had days without zombie attacks.
Actually, she understood their thinking. Food was scarce in the apocalypse—no one had enough to eat. How could they just give it away? Even if it was extra, few people were willing. Other things were fine, but when it came to food, it pained anyone to give it.
Song Tiantian finished loading the items and went to Han Xiaojiao's side again. Seeing her come, Han Xiaojiao shared several newly obtained canned goods with her, gesticulating animatedly. Of course, the translator was still A-Xin.
"Xiaojiao says Big Circle likes eating this. The taste should be good."
This statement made Song Tiantian have to look at the packaging. Fortunately, it wasn't cat food. She said, "Thank you."
While eating the canned food, Song Tiantian saw Han Xiaojiao sitting beside A-Xin, pointing at her face. She couldn't help but smile—definitely wanting Miss Ning to help her touch up her makeup again.
Sure enough, Big Circle brought over a makeup case. A-Xin began touching up Han Xiaojiao's makeup. After finishing the makeup, she also had to comb Han Xiaojiao's hair.
Han Xiaojiao suddenly waved her hands, somewhat vexed, and stomped her feet. Song Tiantian was very curious what was wrong. Then she saw A-Xin take out a very large wooden barrel. She immediately understood—Han Xiaojiao must have forgotten to bathe.
She lowered her head and smiled. Really vain and loved cleanliness.
"Go bathe. We'll redo your makeup and hair afterward."
Hearing A-Xin's gentle voice, Han Xiaojiao was satisfied. Because she bathed in spiritual spring every day and drank spiritual spring as water, her body had softened considerably. The only flaw was she still couldn't speak. She often opened her mouth wide to look at the tongue inside—it was all normal, but she didn't know why she still couldn't speak.
Big Circle very perceptively stood guard on the side. Listening to its human servant's fumbling sounds, it rolled its eyes several times in its heart. There was actually a human servant who loved cleanliness more than a meow.
"Miss Ning, is Xiaojiao your sister?"
Song Tiantian couldn't help asking, because Ning Xin really doted on Han Xiaojiao too much. Even though Han Xiaojiao was already a zombie, there wasn't a trace of disgust or fear.
"No."
Song Tiantian was surprised and said subconsciously, "Seeing how you two interact, I thought Xiaojiao and you were sisters." So if not a sister, what was their relationship?
Recalling their intimate interactions, she suddenly thought of a possibility. "Could you be lovers?" That's right—besides familial relationships, there were also romantic relationships. Han Xiaojiao depended on Miss Ning so much and often acted cutely toward her—it really was somewhat like a romantic relationship.
"Lovers?"
A-Xin paused for a moment. She hadn't thought about these things but also knew what lovers meant. Being reminded by Song Tiantian like this, her relationship with Xiaojiao indeed resembled lovers. She planned to accompany Xiaojiao in the apocalypse until death before leaving. If it was a romantic relationship, that actually wasn't bad. Of course, the prerequisite was that Xiaojiao was willing—she didn't reject this kind of relationship.
"Yes, you're especially like a pair of lovers." They already were, right? Envy appeared in Song Tiantian's eyes. "If it's not family affection, then only lovers who love each other could achieve what Miss Ning and Xiaojiao have."
A-Xin laughed softly. "Then we're lovers."
She didn't reject this. Rather, hearing this statement, her heart felt somewhat pleased. She raised her eyes to look at Han Xiaojiao's room—just then Han Xiaojiao came out. Those eyes without contact lenses were somewhat gray-white, actually not pretty, but she just felt they were cute.
Han Xiaojiao walked before her and sat to the side. Big Circle very naturally brought things over.
A-Xin helped Han Xiaojiao put on fresh makeup, comb her hair, and wear contact lenses.
Han Xiaojiao raised her hand. A-Xin understood the other's meaning and praised, "You're the most beautiful."
Han Xiaojiao stood up and hugged A-Xin. Song Tiantian also laughed and couldn't help saying, "You two are so loving."
Loving?
Han Xiaojiao was stunned. Loving? She tilted her head, looking at A-Xin. Seeing A-Xin's smiling face, even though she had no heartbeat, she felt somewhat nervous. She lowered her head, carefully chewing on the word "loving."
Loving? Wasn't that used to describe lovers?
...
These past two days, Han Xiaojiao wasn't very lively. She often fell into a daze. When A-Xin asked what was wrong, she only shook her head without speaking. Silently pinching her dress—could she say she seemed to have some other thoughts about A-Xin?
Looking at her own pale skin, remembering there was still an ugly wound on her neck, her heart felt somewhat angry. When she got angry, she wanted to throw things. She fiercely rubbed Big Circle. Big Circle looked with a confused face at today's not-very-gentle human servant.
Rub gently, human servant.
"Are you angry? Who made Xiaojiao angry?"
Han Xiaojiao lowered her head and asked A-Xin if she was very ugly.
"No, you're the most beautiful, always very beautiful."
Liar!
Bloodless skin with a big hole in her neck—how could she not be ugly?
A-Xin seemed to understand. She touched Han Xiaojiao's head. "You'll evolve. When you evolve to a certain degree, your skin will return to the most perfect state. The wound on your neck will also heal in the future."
Really? Han Xiaojiao raised her head. Although her eyes lacked luster, A-Xin still saw the other's expectation and nodded.
Han Xiaojiao wasn't sad anymore. She held her hands together, her ten fingers constantly circling, secretly glancing at A-Xin. Then when she became beautiful, she'd discuss with A-Xin about them being lovers.
Being lovers definitely required hugging and sharing a bed—of course her body needed to be in a perfectly beautiful state.
She told A-Xin she would definitely evolve quickly and strive to recover soon.
A-Xin said, "You can do it." With the spiritual spring, Han Xiaojiao would evolve very quickly.
Song Tiantian watched their interaction and couldn't help but glance at Fang Cheng busy in the distance. Recently, Brother Fang had also gotten closer to her. They'd also faced many things together. She suddenly felt another somewhat fiery gaze. Looking over, she saw Gu Dongling's eyes burning as he looked at her. She was scared and quickly looked away.
"Tiantian." Gu Dongling sat beside Song Tiantian, his gaze serious as he said, "You should know I like you, right?"
Song Tiantian hadn't expected Gu Dongling would speak frankly and directly discuss this matter. "Sorry, Brother Gu. I don't have feelings for you."
"I know. The one you like is Fang Cheng, isn't it?"
Song Tiantian shrank back a bit. Gu Dongling pressed closer step by step. His hot breath hit her face—the feeling was uncomfortable. "Tiantian, from the day you joined the team, you attracted me."