Chapter 58 Da Fa kindly takes them in

In the center of Rong County's largest square, a specially constructed green slope features a flower-shaped cup-shaped sculpture, beneath which hangs a row of yellow letters reading "Welcome to Rong County." These structures have been neglected for three months, their colors tinged with a dull gray, giving them a desolate appearance.

Just then, a car pulled up across the landscape, its loud rock music shattering the silence. The car door was kicked open, and a woman stepped out.

She stretched, her fox-like eyes scanning the landscape before her, then turned around.

Looking into the distance, she could see a dark mass of zombies rushing towards her.

While waiting for the arrival time, she stretched her limbs to warm up.

The zombies ran fast, attracting wave after wave of them along the way. Zombies that couldn't keep up were replaced by zombies from other places, and their numbers were considerable at the moment.

The scattered zombies that led the charge had already surrounded them.

The woman lowered her long legs, calmly dodging the first one. She then spread her five fingers together, extending a twenty-centimeter-long silver knife, and swiftly cleaved open the second zombie's head.

She walked forward, facing the terrifying, hungry zombies, slicing off one head after another with her bare hands, splattering foul-smelling black liquid everywhere she went.

She doesn't need guns; she uses them to fight for survival, and she slashes zombies for fun. She enjoys the thrill of wielding a knife.

A large horde of zombies has arrived at the square.

Accompanied by rock music, the woman tirelessly spins and leaps, slicing off the heads of zombies of all sizes with her knife.

The metal superpower within her body could not only transform into hand slashes, but also instantly stab out two meters long, like a skewer of candied hawthorns, skewering zombies. With a powerful swing, she swept away another group of zombies.

Qi Shuihan burst into laughter.

She swung the spikes and sliced ​​through another section of her head, and saw a familiar face.

Li Nai?

Stopped in place, the fox's eyes stared straight through the horde of zombies.

Several zombies seized the opportunity to pounce from behind.

bass--

As if Qi Shuihan had eyes in the back of his head, he slashed off the zombie's head with a backhand.

The next moment, her two hands seemed to be carrying silver arcs of light as she slashed and cut down the zombies blocking her way, heading straight for the place she was looking at.

They were getting closer. The other person showed no intention of running away; they simply stared calmly at her approaching.

It's Li Nai.

The fox-like eyes shifted to the right; there was another person hiding behind Li Nai. He casually withdrew his gaze.

Ten meters away, Qi Shuihan suddenly slowed his pace, approaching Li Nai as if strolling in a garden. He remained hidden, observing Li Nai's expression.

There were still five steps between them.

Qi Shuihan stopped in her tracks, the surprise in her eyes faded, and the corners of her mouth still held a half-smile, but her fox-like eyes revealed indifference.

Li Nai's empty eyes suddenly flickered.

Whew!

A swift shadow brushed past Qi Shuihan. Strands of her black, silky hair fluttered in the wind.

Another battle erupted behind them. This time it was different; zombies were thrown to the ground and flew everywhere, their body parts torn to pieces. Compared to decapitation, the scene was extremely brutal.

Qi Shuihan did not turn around to look.

"It seems you've already recognized her as not being Li Nai."

The girl with the high ponytail spoke up.

"How come you two are here together? Missy probably tracked me down; she wasn't slow." Qi Shuihan's tone showed no surprise.

"If she still can't find you, then all your blaring through the loudspeaker has been for nothing," Lin Jingru said sarcastically.

Qi Shuihan smiled, twirled a strand of hair with her finger, and turned to admire "Li Nai" wreaking havoc on the zombie battlefield.

The two watched silently without saying a word until there were no zombies left, at which point "Li Nai" ran back again.

Qi Shuihan squinted as she observed "Li Nai" standing next to Lin Jingru. He was facing her squarely, his empty black eyes unchanging, like a dutiful guard watching her every move, as if trying to predict when she would hurt Lin Jingru.

The fox's eyes welled up with mist, a hint of fierceness flashing within them before being suppressed.

"Now that the zombies are dealt with, isn't it my turn?"

Qi Shuihan stretched out her wrists and shook them.

Lin Jingru glanced disdainfully at the other person's wrist with her phoenix eyes. She turned and dragged her injured leg away. "Li Nai" followed closely behind.

Qi Shuihan stared at their backs for a moment, then followed them. She was immediately forced back to a safe distance by "Li Nai's" glare.

"Hey! Little sister. Don't you want to take me back to please your sister?"

Lin Jingru ignored her.

"Take me back, and I promise I'll sing your praises of your unwavering loyalty to Missy!"

His stubborn, limping back was visibly tense, as if he was enduring something.

Qi Shuihan's eyes narrowed, sensing something subtle. She intensified her rambling, never stopping, starting and ending with "Misike."

--"Shut up!"

Lin Jingru stopped in her tracks. Her voice was almost a growl as she said, "Don't mention her again! I will never go back to that place."

Sure enough, something bad happened, and it was quite serious.

Qi Shuihan changed the subject and asked, "What happened to you all after I left?"

Lin Jingru seemed to find something amusing, and a mocking smile cracked across her cold, hard face. "You should know better than I do."

Qi Shuihan glanced at "Li Nai": "She's someone who values ​​her life and never abuses her life-saving skills unless it's a life-or-death situation. After solving a problem, she won't waste a single moment. But right now, she's maintained this state. Why?"

Lin Jingru glanced at Li Nai with her phoenix eyes, guessing Qi Shuihan's intentions.

"So concerned about her? Has the culprit finally found a sliver of conscience?"

She seemed to have found something amusing, embellishing the story and recounting the whole tale. Her mocking phoenix eyes made no attempt to hide her desire to glimpse Qi Shuihan's vulnerability, however slight it may have been.

However, Qi Shuihan did not react much after hearing this, but simply gazed at the city sunset.

Lin Jingru kept a cold expression. Her stomach growled inappropriately, making her even more icy.

"Oh, are you hungry?" Qi Shuihan teased out of the corner of his eye.

Lin Jingru left without saying a word.

"I'll take you out for a big meal."

Seeing that Lin Jingru was walking even faster.

Qi Shuihan smiled and looked for his car.

Luckily, he's a cripple and walks slowly. The car isn't too far from here, so he can run there and come back to pick him up.

The roar of cars filled the air as they slowly followed Lin Jingru and "Li Nai".

"Beautiful lady, get in the car." Qi Shuihan rested one hand on the car window, idly playing with a strand of hair with her fingers.

"Beautiful lady, don't be stubborn. Are you going to walk all the way back to the company's headquarters?"

Lin Jingru paused for a moment before speaking: "The company is not my home."

Qi Shuihan raised an eyebrow, glancing at the other person with "affection." "I have a place where you can rest your feet." Her eyes swept over the trembling injured leg.

Lin Jingru lowered her head so her face was not visible, and she moved slowly.

Qi Shuihan shook her head slightly. "Alright, I admit it. I'm thinking of my little Nainai. You may not be tired, but she is. After all, a person needs to eat and drink."

Seemingly persuaded, Lin Jingru stopped. The car also stopped.

An awkward silence filled the air.

Finally, Qi Shuihan reluctantly got out of the car, opened the car door for them, and finally invited them inside.

It was half dark.

The car drove quietly to a construction site and stopped in front of the building.

Qi Shuihan led the way, with "Li Nai" carrying Lin Jingru as they went up to the top floor. The remains of zombies on each floor's staircase had been moved to both sides, clearly indicating that someone had deliberately cleared a path for them.

Upon opening the door to the rooftop, I saw a little girl standing not far away, her eyes sparkling with joy.

"Sister, you're back after all."

...

Tonight, the moon is two-thirds visible and brighter than usual, making the surrounding stars appear paler.

No artificial lights were on on the rooftop, and the moonlight bathed everything in a silvery white glow. Near the edge of the rooftop, one sat and one stood, gazing at the low-rise buildings of the city draped in a silvery cloak in the distance; all around was desolate and eerily quiet.

What are you hiding in your pocket?

Lin Jingru turned her head and noticed something gleaming quietly in Li Nai's pocket.

Without saying a word, Li Nai reached into his pocket, placed his fist right in front of her eyes, and opened it.

A bare silver ring with only the setting.

She stared at the ring with her phoenix eyes and let out a soft hum.

"Why would I pick it up? It's not mine."

Eyes unmoving. Palms unmoving.

The ring was dazzlingly bright.

A hand reached out, fingertips pinching the ring. Lin Jingru turned the ring over, her eyes examining the inside of the band; there was a line of finely written characters.

——TO MIXIKO 07.12

"If you don't know English, you'll just carve pinyin?" Lin Jingru said sarcastically.

The date your gaze lingers.

Want to know why I stole it?

After she took the ring, Li Nai returned to a distant, gazing posture. She remained unresponsive to Lin Jingru's questions.

Lin Jingru: "My birthday is also July 12th. Nobody really cares about it."

Hold the ring tightly.

"I hate birthday parties the most. They always have fake smiles and loudly wish me a happy birthday, as if the louder they are, the happier I am."

After a few seconds of silence, she suddenly laughed, her eyes filled with mischievous malice.

"Idiot. My birthday isn't July 12th. I've long forgotten my real birthday. Nobody cares, so why should I remember?"

The laughter gradually subsided.

"You want to know why I said my birthday is July 12th, which happens to be the same as Missy's?"

Li Nai stood like a mute wooden stake.

As if talking to herself, Lin Jingru's voice was tinged with the loneliness of moonlight.

"I want to choose my own mother. A perfect mother."

“When I was seven, I tried to become Missyko’s shadow and finally won her mother’s sympathy and persuaded the man to take me in and raise me. If that fire hadn’t happened, I would be a child with a home to go back to now.”

Her phoenix eyes were filled with sorrow. "If I had known this would happen, I shouldn't have softened my heart and gone to see that woman. I knew perfectly well that she had been mentally unstable for many years; if I hadn't opened that door..."

Lin Jingru closed her eyes and said no more.

Lowering her eyes, she quietly observed the silver ring, and after a while, she slipped it onto her finger and pushed it down to the base of her finger.

"Since you gave me this ring on your own initiative, I'll take it as a gift from you."

She looked up at Li Nai's profile.

She asked softly, "You're not leaving, are you?"

The wooden figure Li Nai has no function to answer.

Under the moonlight, Lin Jingru's silver hair shone brightly, as beautiful as the pure moon.

"I'll take that as a yes, you won't leave."

She leaned towards Li Nai, together gazing at the desolate city tower.

...

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