Chapter 109: Affinity?

“Is that really Sister Lian’s handwriting?”

Seeing Yue Qi’s excitement, Qin Luo was delighted as well. If things were as they appeared, Bai Lian and the others must have escaped…

“Yes, but why would they leave a message for me here? What if we had never come here? Wouldn’t we have missed it?” Yue Qi suddenly frowned in confusion.

He had a point. Why had Bai Lian and the others not left a message somewhere more conspicuous—on the city wall, for instance, perhaps by hanging out a piece of white cloth? Why had they chosen this place?

“By the way, Junior Brother, did you find your map?” Qin Luo asked abruptly when she saw that Yue Qi had no idea either.

“I did. It was outside, almost as if someone had deliberately left it for us…” Yue Qi answered offhandedly, but then he suddenly stiffened, as though he had thought of something. “I know! They must have guessed that we would come back looking for the map, so they deliberately left it here. That map must have been left especially for us!”

The more Yue Qi thought about it, the more excited he became.

“Then they must have escaped. There must still be a map in the rear hall. After taking it, they left this message there as well…”

“You’re so clever! I’m sure Xin Zi thought of this plan. Only he would have considered everything so carefully!” Qin Luo said excitedly.

Yue Qi suddenly realized it. “That’s right. Xin Zi and the others were there too. Lian’er would never have thought of something like this!”

The more he considered it, the more likely it seemed. He could not help praising Xin Zi’s cleverness.

“So what do we do now? No matter what, we should leave as quickly as possible. There are zombies everywhere around here. It’s frightening just thinking about it…” Qin Luo suddenly shuddered and glanced around before edging a little closer to Yue Qi.

“You’re making a fuss over nothing…” Yue Qi shook his head. Girls were all like this, always so easily unnerved…

“All right, let’s go. We can’t stay here any longer.” After thinking it over, Yue Qi spoke to Qin Luo. After all, he had no idea whether that leader-class zombie would return. If it did, the two of them would be in danger.

Qin Luo nodded. She watched as Yue Qi placed the map inside his spatial bracelet. She already knew about the bracelet. At first, she had merely found it novel, but after seeing Yue Qi use it so often, she had grown accustomed to it.

The two of them walked for an unknown length of time. By the time night had fallen, even when they looked back, they could no longer see any trace of Changzhou City. Only then did they finally relax.

They found an open patch of ground and built a fire. Yue Qi also scattered some medicinal powder around them. He had found it in Changzhou City earlier, and it offered a certain degree of protection against mosquitoes and other insects.

“Have something to eat…”

Yue Qi could finally relax and roast some food. They had provisions as well, and, most importantly, there was still a little wine in his spatial bracelet. The autumn wind was slightly chilly, and a little wine at a time like this was truly pleasurable.

Qin Luo could tell that Yue Qi was in an excellent mood and did not want to spoil it. She simply reached over to pull a leg from the rabbit roasting on the rack. However, the instant she touched it, she snatched her hand back.

The freshly roasted meat was extremely hot. It was obvious that Qin Luo had never suffered much hardship since childhood and had no experience with such things.

“Haha…”

Yue Qi seemed indescribably amused by her discomfiture. But when he saw the murderous look in her eyes, he immediately restrained his laughter. He took something resembling parchment from his bracelet, carefully placed the roasted rabbit upon it, and waited for it to cool on its own.

“Use this to eat it later. Who grabs food with their bare hands? It’s not as though you haven’t eaten in several hundred years.”

Thinking of what had just happened, Yue Qi could not help laughing again. He handed Qin Luo a sharpened wooden skewer, then used a small knife to cut open the plump, glistening rabbit before finally stopping.

Yue Qi was not particularly hungry. Qin Luo ate most of the rabbit herself. It was obvious that the old man had “tormented” her since childhood by never giving her anything good to eat. Even an ordinary roasted rabbit tasted wonderful to her. After finishing it, she gazed at Yue Qi eagerly, clearly hoping he would make some more.

“That’s enough. You should stop after eating a little, or you’ll have diarrhea on the road tomorrow.” Yue Qi shook his head.

The game did taste excellent, but too much of it was hard on the stomach. When he had been young, he had suffered his share of stomachaches because he could never resist delicious food.

“All right…” Qin Luo nodded reluctantly.

The look she gave Yue Qi was extraordinarily gentle. Clearly, she had already decided that he was to be her long-term meal ticket—and there was no chance of escape.

“Where are we going next?”

The late-autumn night wind was bitterly cold. Even Qin Luo, with her constitution, could not help feeling chilled. She huddled up, edged closer to the fire, and asked him the question.

“I haven’t thought that far ahead. Let’s see what other towns are nearby and figure it out now…”

As he spoke, Yue Qi took the map from his spatial bracelet. After a moment’s thought, he also took out a coat and draped it over Qin Luo’s shoulders.

Qin Luo did not refuse. Once the coat was around her, she sat beside Yue Qi and studied the map with him, without giving the matter much thought.

“By the way, where are your two little companions?” Yue Qi suddenly remembered the creatures that were often at Qin Luo’s side.

“I don’t usually restrain them. They go off to find food on their own. They only come back when they can’t find anything, or when I summon them.”

“Summon them? Your mental power can do that?” Yue Qi asked in confusion.

He had actually wanted to ask about it before. How was Qin Luo able to communicate with so many animals? Did everyone develop such abilities once their mental power reached a certain level?

“I don’t know. It’s always been this way. Grandpa said my mental power has been unusual since I was little, and that ordinary animals seem to feel a strong affinity toward me. I asked him about it, but he doesn’t seem to have the same ability…”

Qin Luo knew no more than he did. She could only shrug helplessly.

“I see…” Yue Qi nodded thoughtfully. Then his heart suddenly jolted, and he hurriedly asked, “Does your mental power work on zombies? I mean, can zombies feel the same kind of affinity toward you?”

“Zombies?” Qin Luo frowned.

She had never tried binding her mental power to something so disgusting. “Of course not. Those things are so ugly. Why would I want to use my mental power on them?”

“Uh…”

Yue Qi had not expected that to be the reason. If he possessed mental power with such a powerful affinity, he would certainly have tried it on the zombies first.

But then he remembered that Qin Luo was still an innocent girl with little experience of the world, and he let the matter go. Not everyone was as rational as Bai Lian.

“Why don’t we try it another day? If you can really control zombies, then heaven itself will have smiled upon us. Who would we have to fear on the journey?”

Yue Qi was visibly excited.

“Let’s talk about it another day. For now, let’s look at the map and decide where we’re going…”

Qin Luo hurriedly changed the subject, hoping Yue Qi would forget about it as soon as possible.

She knew that if her mental power could truly control zombies, their chances of survival would improve tremendously. But it was not something she wanted to see. Having to face those disgusting zombies all day long was nauseating even to imagine.

Just think: if you were used to adorable little pets taking a liking to you, wouldn’t it be horrifying to suddenly discover that those terrifying zombies felt the same way?

“There’s nothing more to look at.” While Qin Luo was saying this, Yue Qi suddenly put the map away. “The only other place nearby is Fengzhou. If that leader-class zombie hasn’t gone there, there may still be plenty of survivors.”

Before he had even entered the Qinghe Sword Sect, Yue Qi had heard the schoolmaster speak of Fengzhou. It was not far from Qingzhou, yet it was one of the five greatest cities in the world.

Its greatest advantage was its strategic location, and it was also exceptionally rich in resources. If an ambitious person took control of Fengzhou City and became its leader, they would certainly never lack supplies.

The secular court had once conducted a census. The resources of those five great cities alone accounted for half of everything in the secular world. It was an utterly terrifying figure. Even without further labor, those resources could probably feed the entire population of the cities for a hundred years—provided, of course, that their populations did not continue to grow rapidly.

“Fengzhou? All right, then. Let’s go to Fengzhou!” Qin Luo readily agreed.

She was eager to distract Yue Qi from the subject. For now, it would be best if his attention were no longer focused on her.

“Why are you so excited?” Yue Qi looked at her in surprise. “Even if we’re going to Fengzhou, you’ll still have to try using your ability if we encounter zombies on the way. If it really works, getting to Fengzhou will be much easier.”

“Uh… We can discuss that later. There’s no hurry. Bring out the map. We should calculate our route to Fengzhou first. If we pass through some town and encounter a horde of zombies, we’ll be in danger…”

Qin Luo spoke quickly.

“Don’t worry about that.” Yue Qi patted his chest. “I’ve already memorized the route to Fengzhou. It follows mountain paths and crosses ridges, so we definitely won’t run into any zombie hordes. We might even encounter a reclusive master like Grandpa.”

“Then you should still take it out and let me have a look! Do you not need my opinion? Can’t we avoid acting like a dictator?”

Qin Luo shot Yue Qi an indignant look.

“How is this dictatorship? Even if I showed it to you, you wouldn’t understand. There’s a great deal of knowledge involved in military maps. Have you ever studied it?”

Yue Qi looked at her disdainfully.

“Junior Brother! Your wings have hardened! How dare you speak to your senior sister like that…”

Qin Luo put on the airs of an elder disciple, planting her hands on her hips.

But at that very moment, a rustling sound suddenly came from the woods!

A mutated zombie sprang out without warning!