Chapter 89 Returning to Reality
This may be the "final road" for survival on the highway; now two paths lie ahead.
Which path will Qiao Ning choose?
The barrage of comments continued to flood the screen, but Qiao Ning turned it off.
She stared at the Law Stone in her hand, remaining motionless for a long time; no one knew what she was thinking.
After a while, Icescale scratched at her leg with its claws, trying to attract Qiao Ning's attention. Although it was through the clothes manifested by its equipment, it still retracted its sharp claws to ensure it wouldn't hurt its master.
Seeing this, Qiao Ning picked up the puppy-sized ice scale and held it high: "What? Are you hungry? Or haven't had enough fun and want to go out and play some more?"
Ice Scale shook its head and let out a soft whimper at her.
Qiao Ning understood. Bing Lin was very perceptive and probably sensed her complicated emotions, so he wanted to do his best to make her happy and optimistic.
I have to say, whenever I feel down or have any conflicting emotions, seeing Ice Scales gives me an instant healing feeling, and rekindles my hope and vitality.
The world can't be without such a good dog as Binglin! Qiao Ning buried her face in Binglin's fluffy neck and rubbed against it fiercely.
At first, Binglin obediently let her rub against him, but when he saw that she was really going to keep going, he started to struggle and tried to stop his master.
Qiao Ning laughed and let go of it, then picked up the Law Stone again and poured her energy into it.
Time passed second by second, and the pollution on the Law Stone seemed to recede slightly, or perhaps it was just her imagination. Because no matter how much Qiao Ning purified, new pollution would always be created and cover it up.
However, Qiao Ning noticed that the pollution assimilation process data in the disaster information updated by the system this morning had changed, dropping from 80% to 79.9%. This data is an ambiguous value, not a true decrease of 0.01%. The real value is definitely much smaller than 0.01.
Qiao Ning stopped, and after about a minute, the pollution assimilation process returned to 80%.
The path to purifying the stone is blocked.
Because after a whole day of hard work purifying, it's very likely that the weight will rise back up in the time it takes to rest.
It's impossible for her to purify the Law Stone for 24 hours straight without sleep; even the donkeys in the production team don't work like that.
Now it seems there's only one other way to go.
Since there was no immediate solution, Qiao Ning wasn't in a hurry to do anything. Even though the key to clearing the level was right in her hands, she felt less anxious to succeed than before when she hadn't found the Law Stone.
As usual, she first completed today's garbage cleanup task and collected several upgrade crystals. By then it was getting late, so Qiao Ning parked her car on the garbage highway.
The number of online users keeps dropping at night.
Some players died, while others chose to exit the level and were teleported back to Lu Di City.
Only players who survive to the fourth day of the cataclysm will have the chance to be teleported back to the Imperial City. Players who don't make it to that day are truly dead.
The worst part is that the system and host #1 won't tell the players this rule until the fourth day of the catastrophe. Otherwise, even if other players try their best to hide and survive, they would still have to survive until the fourth day. There simply wouldn't be so many people risking their lives.
As pollution assimilation increases to 80%, the frequency of large garbage monsters appearing has increased significantly. Especially at night, whether driving or parked, large garbage monsters will attack the roadside barriers.
A few days ago, the giant garbage monsters couldn't cause any damage to the highway barrier, but tonight is different. As the barrier was repeatedly attacked, it began to tremble violently, and even cracks appeared in some places.
Fortunately, the giant garbage monster has no eyes and cannot see the cracks in the barrier. Otherwise, if it kept attacking the cracks, it might have broken through a section of the barrier very quickly.
In this situation, most players would choose to teleport back to Lu Di City. Only a small number of players, about a hundred or so, would stay, but they also wouldn't speak in the chat channel.
Qiao Ning couldn't figure out what these people wanted to do. Did they think there was still hope of finding or seizing the Law Stone?
At midnight, the disaster information was updated.
On the sixth day of the natural disaster, the pollution assimilation process is 90%. Each player who chooses to stay must ensure their pollution level is below 50. Each player must clean up more than 10,000 tons of garbage that day, and the total amount of garbage cleaned up that day must reach 8 million tons.
One last message:
[The Law Stone has been found by player Qiao Ning, at coordinates xxx. Click the coordinates to teleport directly.]
Qiao Ning glanced at the system map; no players had teleported nearby yet, but there were people talking in the chat channel.
[The Law Stone really was found by Qiao Ning. I said before that she might be the ultimate winner, but you didn't believe me.]
I'm staying here to see the ending. As long as Qiao Ning doesn't clear the game, I'll stay here and wait for the finale.
[Since Qiao Ning obtained the Law Stone, does anyone else have any objections? I'll answer first: No, we don't intend to take it.]
I wanted to take it, but she wouldn't stand still and let me kill her, so I had to regretfully give up.
[Let's all go home. Going back to Lu Di City is fine too. My brother is still waiting for me there. Even if I can't go home, at least I can reunite with my good brother.]
[No way, you're not even going to try? You're just giving up? Qiao Ning hasn't cleared the level yet, right? There must be some condition she hasn't met that's preventing her from clearing it. This is our chance!]
[Upstairs, her coordinates are right there in the system chat, and they're updated in real time. You think that's an opportunity to teleport there anytime? Don't drag us into this.]
Remember those people Qiao Ning turned into puppets? They're still stuck on that road. Their bodies are starting to rot, but strangely, they can still stand like puppets. The scariest thing is, they're still alive, and their eyeballs can move.
Do you want to live like a walking corpse? I certainly don't. If you want to die, go die by yourself; don't drag us down with you.
[How can anyone still not understand that we never had the strength to fight Qiao Ning in the first place? Have you already forgotten how the Drought Demon died? Did Qiao Ning take more than an hour to deal with him? Probably not even half an hour.]
Everyone knows how strong Zhou Han is. He is almost the ceiling of A-level players. Qiao Ning is even stronger than him and can kill him easily. What does this mean? Do you still want to be different?
This indicates that Qiao Ning's strength far surpasses that of an A-level player; she must be at least an S-level player.
"If we have no other choice but to fight to the death, you might even incite everyone to unite against Qiao Ning. But we do have a way out; we can choose to teleport back to Lu Di City at any time to survive."
In this situation, who would be willing to risk their life and deliberately court death with you? Are they out of their mind?
I urge some people not to treat everyone like fools. Those who targeted and provoked Qiao Ning earlier did so because they didn't know there would be a way out on the fourth day of the natural disaster. At the time, everyone thought that since they were going to die anyway, why not take a gamble?
Now that we don't have to risk our lives anymore, nobody's going to be foolish. It's not like we're tired of living. Why do people risk their lives to get to this final stage? It's because they don't want to die, they want to live.
The chat channel was only lively for a short while before quickly falling silent. Occasionally, one or two people would be offline, most likely because they had encountered some danger and had to teleport away.
Qiao Ning let her pets outside, letting them do as they pleased, whether they were resting or eating, and also keeping watch for her at night.
The night passed quickly, and at eight o'clock in the morning, host number 1 arrived as scheduled.
[Hi everyone, the air is nice today. Although there are still over seventy players, I'm happy that someone has found a Law Stone. This is one of the key conditions for opening the player teleportation portal.]
Qiao Ning is truly amazing! I hope she can purify the Law Stone and clear the level soon. By the way, players holding Law Stones cannot choose to teleport back to Lu Di City.
[Law Stones can only be gifted or stolen; they cannot be discarded. For a gift to be successful, another player must be willing to accept it.]
Starting this morning, the adorable creatures of the garbage mountains and seas will no longer appear at fixed times and locations. They may randomly appear anywhere there is garbage. There's a 50% chance they'll become enraged; if you anger them, you might not even have a chance to escape or teleport!
[When attacked by the berserk monsters, players cannot choose to teleport back to Lu Di City. If you need to teleport back, please do so in advance; don't wait until danger arrives, as it may be too late.]
[Furthermore, starting today, actions such as cleaning up trash, eliminating pollutants, and purifying pollution will no longer yield resource refresh rewards. Players will no longer be able to obtain resources from this trashy world in any way.]
Okay, that's all I wanted to say. Good luck to you all.
As soon as host #1 left, someone immediately contacted Qiao Ning in the chat channel.
[Shang Qi (Rank A, Pollution Value 0): Qiao Ning, I have a way to purify the Law Stones; we can cooperate.]
[Ji Lingling (Level B, Contamination Value 0): Don't listen to him, Qiao Ning. He wants to harm you. He killed all my teammates. Not a single word he says is true! Don't believe him!]
Qiao Ning had no intention of paying attention to the two people, who seemed to be putting on an act, but when they saw that she didn't respond, they teleported directly to her vicinity.
Qiao Ning frowned as she looked at the two people in front of her. Right now, she wasn't in a life-or-death situation with the other players, and she wasn't some kind of murderer who felt itchy if she didn't kill.
But if someone is truly reckless and insists on plotting against her, then she has no choice but to kill them to avoid unnecessary trouble.
Seeing Qiao Ning's face grow increasingly cold, Shang Qi quickly adopted a gesture of surrender: "Don't misunderstand, Qiao Ning. I don't mean to oppose you. I'm here to cooperate with you."
Qiao Ning ignored him, conjuring a frost longbow in her hand, the arrow tip aimed at Shang Qi's brow.
Shang Qi's smile froze for a moment, but the stiffness was fleeting and barely noticeable. He then said with a wry smile, "Boss, I know you're very strong. I really have no ill intentions; I just want to cooperate with you."
The young girl next to him kept her head down the whole time, not making a sound. It was hard to tell whether she was being controlled by Shang Qi or genuinely had nothing to say.
"My friend is incredibly lucky; she drew a gold talent right at the start of the game!"
Upon hearing this, Qiao Ning's hand, which had been taut and drawing the bowstring, loosened slightly, as if she had finally become interested.
"Golden talent?" Qiao Ning asked skeptically.
This was the first time she had encountered a player with a gold-level talent.
Shang Qi quickly replied, "Yes, it really is a golden talent, and it's extremely useful in this stage. It can not only heal but also purify all pollution. Why are our pollution levels so low? It's because Lingling has this golden talent."
“She can help you purify the pollution on the Law Stone, but…” Shang Qi said, sounding somewhat unsure, “We also have conditions.”
Qiao Ning looked at him for a while before saying, "Why don't you tell me?"
"I need to see if your Law Stone is genuine. I have the talent to distinguish the truth from falsehood in everything. Because if Lingling wants to purify the Law Stone, she may only have one chance to do so."
Qiao Ning aimed the arrow at him again.
Shang Qi's eyes didn't change, but his expression and tone were somewhat flustered: "Boss, what are you doing? Even if you don't agree to cooperate, you don't have to resort to violence, do you?"
"Think about it, isn't our cooperation also to save you? Players who possess the Law Stone can't teleport back to Lu Di City. If you could purify the Law Stone, you would have done so already, wouldn't you? The reason you haven't passed the test yet is because you can't purify it. If this drags on, no matter how strong you are, how many days can you survive here?"
"Supplies are no longer being replenished. You may have some stockpiled items, but don't forget that the severity of natural disasters has always been constantly escalating. Can you really hold out indefinitely?"
"If you really don't agree to cooperate, we won't force you. Anyway, we'll definitely teleport away before we run out of resources. By then, even if you want to regret it and cooperate with us, it won't be possible."
Shang Qi's words hit the nail on the head. If Qiao Ning really was a player who only obtained the Law Stone by luck and hadn't seen the spoilers in the comments, she might have been fooled by his few words and her mental defenses would have crumbled.
Unfortunately, Qiao Ning is not.
This game is full of traps, and "cannibalism" is commonplace. You may be able to move faster than others by luck, but you may not be able to go far.
Seeing that Qiao Ning remained silent for a long time, as if she was considering something, Shang Qi couldn't help but smile.
"I really just wanted to confirm the authenticity of the Law Stone. You're so powerful, even if I wanted to take it, you could kill me and take it back anytime, right?"
Upon hearing this, Qiao Ning actually nodded and said, "Okay."
Before Shang Qi's smile could deepen, his expression suddenly froze.
Shang Qi slowly looked down at the arrow embedded in his chest, as if he didn't understand why Qiao Ning would kill him.
"you……"
"Are you asking why I killed you?"
"Because I feel that cooperation is possible, but it doesn't seem to require your presence."
"As long as I can guarantee that the Law Stone in my possession is genuine, why should I keep you alive?"
Qiao Ning walked up to Ji Lingling and lifted her head, only to find that the other woman's eyes were vacant and she had lost consciousness. She glanced coldly at Shang Qi, who was lying on the ground beside her; he was still breathing. She had controlled the location and force of her arrow perfectly, ensuring he wouldn't die immediately.
She still had questions for him.
People like this won't reveal their true colors or tell the truth until they have absolutely no chance of turning the tables.
Shang Qi's eyes revealed a crazy smugness before his death, as if to say: See, even if you kill me, you will have to be buried with me!
It's unclear how this person managed to make Ji Lingling lose her self-awareness while still keeping her alive, preventing the system from determining her as dead.
"Does she really have a talent for purification?" Qiao Ning asked.
Shang Qi was either dead or about to die at this moment. "If... you... die too."
Even if you have it, you can't use it; you'll still die.
Qiao Ning received an affirmative answer, and then took out an item from her spatial backpack.
Shang Qi opened his eyes wide.
As if she could hear what he was thinking, Qiao Ning, unusually kind, told him, "This is a talent cloner."
You can copy another player's talent, but the other player's talent cannot be higher than your own talent level. The copied talent will have a different level and effect; whether it becomes better or worse is uncertain.
Even if Ji Lingling's talent is truly a gold-level talent, she can still clone it.
"Thank you for not killing her completely, allowing her talent to be preserved. And for bringing her right to me."
In a different time and context, she would have thanked Shang Qi much more.
"If it weren't for you, I really wouldn't have known that there were players with high-level purification talents."
"If I can really pass the test with this talent, Shang Qi, you deserve a lot of credit."
What does it mean to kill someone by destroying their spirit? This is probably what it means to kill someone by destroying their spirit.
After Qiao Ning finished speaking, she gave Shang Qi no further chance to prolong his life, raising her Black Flame Bone Blade to sever his head. This could be considered revenge for Ji Lingling.
She couldn't save Ji Lingling; this was all she could do.
[Congratulations to player Qiao Ning for using a Talent Cloner to clone the purple talent "Holy Light Purification" and obtain the gold talent "Law Purification". The talent effect is: It can use the power of laws to achieve absolute purification of all existence in the world.]
After obtaining this talent, Qiao Ning was able to sense that the power of laws still existed in this world, but that power was extremely weak and on the verge of annihilation.
Can such a weak power of law really purify the pollution of the law stone?
Qiao Ning felt it was risky.
Therefore, she did not use this talent to purify the Law Stone immediately.
If the power of the laws is insufficient and the law stone is not completely purified, then she will be in danger.
By then, the pollution assimilation process will have greatly regressed, and the garbage world will continue to exist for a long time without replenishing resources. So how long can Qiao Ning, who does not have enough anti-pollution and other resources, survive here?
Qiao Ning still had to wait until the very last moment.
The destruction and collapse of the world will definitely be a process. Qiao Ning needs to make sure that the pollution of the Law Stone has not decreased or has not been completely cleared during the destruction of the garbage world. Then she can use her talent for Law Purification to try again.
As time went on, fewer and fewer players remained online. By the end of the sixth day of the catastrophe, very few players were still playing. Those who remained were the ones who insisted on waiting to see the finale.
Qiao Ning had a lot of respect for these people. Even at this point, they still wanted to see the ending; their obsessive-compulsive disorder was a bit too much. Risking their lives just to see if she could pass the final level—with that kind of spirit, no wonder they made it to the very last stage.
On the seventh day of the natural disaster, perhaps due to a lack of supplies, the few players who were originally online were shown to have been teleported away.
The pollution assimilation process is 99%.
In the entire garbage world, only Qiao Ning and the virtual host No. 1 remain.
Why haven't you purified the Law Stone yet? Can't you find a way to purify it? You have a lot of popularity, why not trade with me? Maybe I can give you some ideas.
Qiao Ning ignored her, but she kept talking to herself.
【You're so cold, Qiao Ning, but I like it. It's a pity that such a beautiful human like you couldn't survive this final trial of natural disaster.】
You're going to die soon, and I really hate to see you go.
"How about you give me your body? I'll live in your place; that would be a form of symbiosis. It's better than you leaving nothing behind. Such a perfect body of yours—it would be such a waste to let it perish with this garbage world."
[The progress bar is at 100%, Qiao Ning. This time, it really is time to say goodbye. Although I know we'll never see each other again.]
Five minutes until the world completely collapses, Qiao Ning, I hope you live a life without regrets.
As the last sentence was uttered, the figure of host number 1 gradually disappeared into the air.
Qiao Ning withdrew her gaze, holding the Law Stone in her hand, staring at it intently.
The scene of the world collapsing was terrifying and shocking, with countless substances flying into the sky and turning into ashes. Garbage mountains collapsed one after another, and seas of garbage overflowed. Thick, filthy liquid, carrying countless pieces of trash, formed tsunamis that shot straight into the sky, instantly submerging area after area.
Garbage behemoths in the deep sea, and enormous garbage monsters born from garbage mountains on the shore. They scream and roar as they flee in all directions, but no matter where they run, their bodies will quickly evaporate and disappear as the world collapses.
This was the first time Qiao Ning had faced the destruction of a world so directly.
The contamination on the Law Stone is decreasing rapidly, but more than half of it is still contaminated.
As the power of the laws weakened, Qiao Ning had less and less time to choose.
Finally, when the pollution of the Law Stone was still one-third complete, the collapse of the world had spread to the vicinity of Qiao Ning.
Without further hesitation, she chose to use her innate talent to purify.
At the same time, she kept an eye on her passive Lucky Star, constantly observing whether it would be triggered.
However, even after waiting until the very end, the auspicious star's arrival was never triggered.
[Congratulations to player Qiao Ning for clearing the third level of the "Lu Emperor's Trial".]
Congratulations, player, you have been given the opportunity to choose "Do you wish to return to your original world?" If you choose yes, you will lose everything you have gained in the road survival game and then return to your original world.
If you choose "No", you will be teleported to Lu Di City and will be forced into the survival game at random times thereafter.
Players must choose their answer before the ten-second countdown ends. Otherwise, the answer will be assumed to be "No," and the player will be immediately teleported to the City of the Land Emperor.
Countdown 10, 9...
As the system explained the options, Qiao Ning hugged Binglin tightly to her chest, stroking its back repeatedly. She was comforting it, and in doing so, she was comforting herself.
As soon as the countdown began, Qiao Ning chose "No" without hesitation.
She has no ties in the real world and doesn't necessarily need to go back. Before, when she was all alone, she might have wanted to go back, but now…
Looking at the ice scale in her arms, meeting its clear, trusting, and affectionate eyes, she felt a pang of tenderness and endless love and longing in her heart.
Qiao Ning had developed a attachment here; she couldn't bear to part with Bing Lin.
A few more minutes passed. The waiting time wasn't long, but it gave Qiao Ning a bad feeling for no reason.
Is the system going to pull some kind of trick again?
She read the message word by word several times and suddenly noticed that the system initially referred to "player Qiao Ning," but later referred to "player."
Qiao Ning's expression changed slightly.
Sure enough, a minute later, the system notification sounded—
According to the system's statistics on the choices made by all surviving players in this large-scale road survival game, more than 50% of the players chose to return to the original world. Therefore, player Qiao Ning's choice is invalid, and she will be forcibly teleported back to the original world in three minutes.
Countdown 180, 179...
Qiao Ning hurriedly checked the ice scale in her arms, only to find it had vanished sometime during the night. Next came the images of a car, the system interface…
Another road appeared before her, stretching into the endless dark void.
Qiao Ning stared at the road, somewhat dazed. She seemed to have forgotten something, and some voice was calling and urging her to hurry up and walk onto that road.
Qiao Ning slowly walked over, and the moment she stepped onto the road, she suddenly heard a sad and urgent roar.
The sound was so familiar that it startled Qiao Ning awake. When she turned around, she found that the road she was on had been split in two.
The section she was in kept shrinking and retreating, while the Ice Scales in the distance roared and charged madly toward her.
Even though the system said the teleportation wait time was only three minutes, Qiao Ning felt as if some force had forcibly delayed and lengthened that time.
The ice scales continued to chase her, running relentlessly even as they got further and further away.
Moreover, this teleportation space also began to gradually crumble.
Qiao Ning saw that its four paws were bruised and bleeding from the air currents as it ran wildly, and its legs were also torn open, exposing the bloody joints and flesh.
It seemed tireless and painless, its icy blue eyes brimming with tears, reflecting Qiao Ning's image, wanting only to catch up with its owner.
It tried to fly up and chase after it, but after only a short while, its beautiful golden-red wings were brutally cut and shredded by the chaotic air currents in the space. It didn't even cry out in pain; it simply struggled to its feet and continued running forward.
Qiao Ning's heart ached so much that she could barely stand. No matter how much she shouted at Binglin and begged it to stop chasing her, it defied her for the first time.
Ice Scale's figure gradually disappeared from her sight.
At the last moment before the teleportation, Qiao Ning vaguely saw Bing Lin enveloped in a ball of light. Then, within that light, the figure of a very tall, beast-eared boy appeared. He seemed to be shouting something at Qiao Ning, but she couldn't hear him clearly.
What she didn't see was that her Lucky Star passive effect was suddenly triggered at that moment.
When Qiao Ning regained her senses, she found herself on the side of a bustling street, with a sea of cars flowing in front of her.
The beeping sound of an electric scooter turning, the announcement of a bus stopping, elementary school students on their way home from school, discussing how to play video games together later...
Everything felt both familiar and strange.
Qiao Ning looked dazed and almost mechanically followed the route she remembered back to her apartment.
The time in the real world is consistent with the time in the road survival game; she did indeed disappear for two or three months in reality.
Her colleagues at the studio even helped report her missing to the police. The police searched for her for a long time but had no leads, so they could only classify it as a missing person case.
No one expected Qiao Ning to suddenly appear. Later, the police checked the surveillance footage from the day she appeared. The footage turned into static at a crucial moment, making it impossible to see anything. It returned to normal a few seconds later, and by then Qiao Ning was already on that street.
Faced with police questioning, Qiao Ning could only remain silent. The police couldn't do anything about it; after all, this was the return of the main character in a missing person case, not the finding of a suspect. Since she was back, it was a good thing, and they didn't want to interfere further.
In the days that followed, Qiao Ning would visit stray cat and dog rescue stations and pet shops every day. Sometimes, when she passed by some alleys and saw kittens and puppies inside, she would stop and try to identify them.
Almost all of Qiao Ning's resources obtained in the game have disappeared, leaving only her special abilities and talent effects, as well as two dark stones.
She's used up all the blind box coins she hadn't used these past few days, but she hasn't been able to get any supplies; all she's gotten are empty boxes.
Qiao Ning looked at the two dark stones on the table. One was a large dark stone formed from the melting of countless fragments of stone, and the other was obtained from a large garbage monster.
She remembered the description of the Dark Stone: whoever possesses the true Dark Stone will become the ruler of the world of natural disasters.
Qiao Ning has already fused all the dark stone fragments into the large dark stone block. She only has one chance. If she can successfully fuse the only two remaining dark stones, she might still have a chance to see Bing Lin again.
If it fails...
Qiao Ning couldn't imagine it, nor dared to think about it.
She put the dark stones back in the drawer once more. It was as if as long as she kept them, the sliver of hope in her heart could continue to exist.
Perhaps I'll need it in the future, or perhaps I'll never need it.
During her time back in the real world, Qiao Ning had been following other long-term missing persons cases. Some people's bodies were found by the police shortly after they disappeared. A very small number of people, however, returned after disappearing.
Strangely, neither the time of their disappearance nor the time of their return coincided with Qiao Ning's, and they had lost their memories of the period after their disappearance.
The total number of these people was not large; Qiao Ning roughly counted only a few hundred, scattered throughout the country. With a population of over a billion, there were countless missing persons cases every day. Naturally, it wouldn't attract much attention.
Their only similarity was amnesia. But this didn't help the police at all. In the end, the case was dropped.
Qiao Ning couldn't remember the last time she had a good night's sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she would think of Bing Lin, of it running around covered in blood, desperately trying to catch up with her. Every time, she would wake up with a sharp pain in her heart.
But when she wasn't out searching for ice scales, she would still want to fall asleep. That way, she could see her dog.
Yes, she still firmly believes that she will meet Icescale again.
Qiao Ning remembered that the Heavenly Scroll had told her that as long as Bing Lin was still alive, he would do his best to find her.
She firmly believes this. And it is this belief that has sustained her until now.
The next morning, Qiao Ning tidied herself up and went out again with her bag on her back.
There was nothing else in the bag except for ham sausages, dried duck legs, and other things that Binglin usually likes to eat.
Today's route was the same as usual: first, I went to the nearby pet store, then I observed the stray cats and dogs that occasionally ran by along the streets and alleys, and finally I went to the stray cat and dog rescue station.
There were so many kittens and puppies, yet none of them were her ice scales.
Qiao Ning walked back in disappointment.
Perhaps because she was clearly in low spirits, while she was squatting by a flower bed waiting for the bus, a little girl of about four or five years old took the initiative to talk to her and comfort her.
"Sister, why are you crying? Did something sad happen?"
Qiao Ning was taken aback, somewhat puzzled, because she hadn't cried.
The little girl's mother apologized to her, saying that the little girl actually had congenital amblyopia and that she might have misread it.
“Mom, I didn’t see wrong. My sister is crying. I heard it. She’s crying very sadly. That’s why I wanted to comfort her.”
Qiao Ning looked at her for a while, then seemed to understand something, and smiled as she reached out to touch the little girl's pigtails.
"My sister lost a very important friend, and she can't find him now, so she's a little sad."
The little girl looked understanding and said, "My parents moved with me a while ago, and then my flower got lost. My flower is my best friend, and I was really sad when it got lost."
At this point, the little girl looked at Qiao Ning, seemingly making a silent comparison in her mind, and then said, "Although I wasn't as heartbroken as my sister, I also cried for a long time."
"Luckily, Huahua is very clever. After we moved, she couldn't find her way to the new house, so she ran back to our old place and waited for me. It was our old neighbor who called to tell me, and I went back to pick her up. Sister, don't you think Huahua is very smart?"
Upon hearing the little girl's words, Qiao Ning froze instantly, then, as if suddenly remembering something, she took off running.
"Huh? Sister?"
The little girl noticed that Qiao Ning, who had been there just moments before, was now gone.
The little girl's mother comforted her daughter, "That older sister must have had something urgent to attend to and was in a hurry to leave. Let's go home, honey."
Qiao Ning ran quickly toward the old residential building in her memory, the place where she had lived since childhood, until she moved away after college for various reasons.
When Qiao Ning arrived at the old residential building, panting, the elderly people who were dancing in the square nearby thought they had mistaken her for someone else.
"Isn't this the Qiao family's daughter? Why is she suddenly back?"
"Something might have happened."
"I remember their old house wasn't sold, so it's normal for them to come back and visit occasionally..."
"Wait, I forgot to tell Ningning, a stray dog recently appeared near their building. It's fast and aggressive. It's a small puppy, but we've been trying to catch it for days without success... But it doesn't seem to have hurt anyone. I haven't seen it these past two days, maybe it's gone."
Upon hearing this, Qiao Ning ran even faster, rushing up to the fifth floor of her old house, where she immediately spotted a thin, bluish-black puppy.
It huddled in the shadows near her front door, feeling utterly insecure.
Hearing the noise, the puppy raised its head and met Qiao Ning's gaze.
"Awoo..." the puppy whimpered softly.
It had been starving for so long that it was almost at its physical limit, but it still struggled to stand up and staggered toward Qiao Ning.
Qiao Ning couldn't stop her tears from falling, and quickly ran over to hug it tightly.
"Ice Scale." She knew this was her dog.
Ice Scale let out a howl.
Even without the pet contract, Qiao Ning could still understand its meaning.
It is saying, "Master, I have finally found you."
She was the master he recognized at first sight, and the partner he chose.
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