"Wuwuwu."
Amidst Xiao Qing's cries, Tian Jing left with a heavy heart.
She had spent too much time with Xiao Qing, and she was unsure of the situation at Zhengyang Base or in the third world.
This past year, her and Xiao Qing's days weren't just about passively leveling up.
While fending off scattered zombies, she searched for vegetable seeds that could still be planted and grown.
She needed to eat, and she needed to interact with humans to inquire about bases and Lingxian.
She found out about the base.
There was no longer a place called Lingxian.
Someone had once heard of a farming area called Ling District, though it was slightly off course.
She planned to check it out after dealing with matters at the base.
She traveled swiftly.
When hungry, she would grow vegetable seeds to fill her stomach.
When tired or sleepy, she would find a place with many trees to rest.
Every time she rested, she missed Xiao Qing.
Because when she was with Xiao Qing, every night, Xiao Qing would root itself in the ground, transforming into a large tree, allowing her to rest peacefully on its branches, with Xiao Qing keeping watch.
That night, she slept very, very soundly.
She saw herself returning to Kushan, back to her children.
She joyfully embraced and kissed her children.
"Tiantian, Tiantian, wake up quickly, zombies are coming."
Huh?
In her dream, why was Xiao Qing's voice there? Was she missing it too much?
"Tiantian, Tiantian, wake up quickly, psychic zombies are here, it's leading a group of minions and surrounding us, wake up quickly."
Tian Jing also felt something was wrong. She hadn't found the formation in the second world yet, how could she be in the third world?
The scene in front of her shifted, and she saw the formation, and a man and a woman inside it, standing before a black and a white tomb.
The man was Zheng Ge, but the woman was not her.
Who was it?
She wanted to see who that woman was when she heard Xiao Qing's voice again.
"Tiantian, wake up quickly, your daughter Lili was captured by zombies, go save her."
Lili?
Lili was captured by zombies?
Absolutely not!
Absolutely not!
"Lili~"
Tian Jing shouted, and fell to the ground with a thud.
The pain in her buttocks made her realize her protective shield was gone.
When did it break?
How did she not know?
She looked up and saw, in the darkness, a dozen zombies were only about ten meters away from her.
"Tiantian, get up quickly, come onto me, we'll kill these zombies together."
Before Tian Jing could ask Xiao Qing why it was here, she quickly took out seeds and grew her weapon.
Yes, a weapon.
She and Xiao Qing had cross-bred a type of vine based on the functions of various mutated vines.
The vine was black, and apart from the root she held, the rest of it was like steel needles.
These needles could extend and retract with the flow of her abilities.
When short, they could retract into the vine, leaving only a small bump.
When long, they could pierce into the flesh of zombies or humans and continue to extend, piercing through them.
Anesthetic? That was unnecessary; it was useless against zombies and ineffective against ability users.
Holding the vine, she leaped onto Xiao Qing's branches, which were only a meter high.
She activated her protective shield.
Xiao Qing immediately grew into a large pine tree, seven to eight meters tall.
The zombies also rushed to the base of the tree.
Tian Jing scanned her surroundings but didn't see the psychic zombie.
She could only deal with these minions first.
Although they were minions, they were still level five or six mutated zombies.
It seemed that the psychic zombie was at least level seven.
A level seven psychic zombie was harder to deal with than a level seven ability user.
This was due to its intelligence and its adaptability.
Its biggest adaptation was that its body was no longer fragile.
Although not as strong as other ability zombies of the same level, it was not much weaker than ability users of the same level, which was the terrifying aspect of high-level psychic zombies.
Tian Jing pointed the vine in her hand at the neck of a zombie that had already been entangled by Xiao Qing's roots and flung it.
As soon as it wrapped around the zombie's neck, all the needles on the vine extended, piercing through the zombie's neck, and its head fell off.
Xiao Qing's roots emerged from the ground, wrapping around the zombie's head.
It then extended two more roots into the skull, pried it open, and extracted the crystal core, retracting underground with the core.
This happened in an instant.
With the tacit cooperation of Tian Jing and Xiao Qing, one zombie was dealt with in just a few seconds.
In the blink of an eye, all dozen zombies were gone.
"Tiantian, that psychic zombie is in the wrecked bus in the back."
"Beside it is a female ability user, she's probably its woman, right?"
"Let's surround the bus together."
"Okay."
The man and the tree communicated telepathically, and the zombie in the bus didn't notice.
Tian Jing threw out a handful of seeds.
Xiao Qing's massive root system, spread out beneath the bus, stealthily climbed along the bus's undercarriage.
Tian Jing immediately unleashed her new skill—Celestial Maiden Scattering Flowers.
Celestial Maiden Scattering Flowers involved wrapping wood-elemental abilities within small energy bubbles.
Dozens or hundreds of these energy bubbles were scattered together.
These energy bubbles were miniature versions of the protective shield.
The energy bubbles, carrying their abilities, landed on the scattered seeds and burst.
The seeds immediately sprouted, grew, matured, and bloomed, well, not bloomed, but branched out.
Delicate, snake-like vines emerged, rapidly climbing onto the bus's roof.
Soon, the bus was enmeshed in vines and roots.
However, the psychic zombie inside the bus remained motionless.
It was too suspicious.
"Tiantian, what's going on?"
"I don't know, let me check."
A few rose seeds were arranged in a line and sprinkled. As they reached the side of the bus, the Celestial Maiden Scattering Flowers skill was employed.
Rows of rose bushes sprouted and branched out in the cold season, falling like dominoes under the bus, and then climbed along the vine net to the car windows.
The rose leaves pointed towards the bus.
After Tian Jing saw the scene inside the bus through the roses in her hand, tears streamed down her face.
Tian Jing jumped off Xiao Qing's branches and ran towards the bus.
She was restrained by Xiao Qing's roots.
"Tiantian, calm down, calm down, what did you see?"
"Zheng Ge, that psychic zombie is Zheng Ge, and there's another zombie, it's the person I, uh, the person I was looking for at Zhengyang Base."
Xiao Qing, after observing the interior of the bus with its roots, was still uneasy.
"Tiantian, psychic zombies are cunning, perhaps this one can cast illusions."
"If it's your Zheng Ge, why was it preparing to attack you just now?"
"Besides, can your Zheng Ge be here? Didn't you say he's not in this world?"
"Observe more, or ask it a few questions."
Tian Jing pointed to her face. "If I look like this, would he recognize me?"
To avoid unnecessary trouble, and because her abilities were low a year ago,
Tian Jing would smear some plant paste on her face every day.
She would also mess up her hair, making her look dirty and disheveled.
Even after her abilities improved, Tian Jing didn't want to give up this appearance that repelled people.
Uh, Xiao Qing was already used to Tiantian's appearance.
"Then wipe this off and see if it reacts. It can command those level five or six zombies, so it must be higher than level six."
Tian Jing raised her hand and wiped away the green plant paste from her face.
Then, a tentative, stiff voice was heard, "Tiantian?"
Xiao Qing tightened its grip on Tian Jing, preventing her from speaking, and asked in its small, childlike voice, "Who are you?"
The reply received was, "Xiao Song? You, you followed, over?"
"Yes, I am Xiao Song, who are you?"
Hearing Xiao Qing so cautiously protecting her, Tian Jing calmed down. Even if this psychic zombie was Zheng Ge, there was no use in her being anxious now.