276 The World Down in the Lake

Lin Qiao spent quite a while swimming downward. She felt that at least a couple of minutes had passed, yet the lake bottom was still nowhere near. She sensed that Viney was pretty close to her, yet she swam for a while but couldn't see the bottom of the lake.

It was so weird!

Holding the energy nuclei, she kept swimming downward. She couldn't tell how long she had swum, but after one hour or two, she finally saw a shred of shadow in the water. As she went further down, the shadow grew more and more obvious.

Soon, she saw something dark-purple.

She didn't think that the lake was actually so deep. It was scary!

As she got close enough, she found that the dark-purple thing she saw was the ground. Soon, she stood on the ground and looked around, but found no bounds.

She didn't see Viney.

She had a sense that Viney was here. Where exactly was Viney?

Standing on the ground, she felt a little strange. The dark-purple ground was soft like a yoga mat. She had been taking a great water resistance down in the lake, and only a small buoyancy force. Therefore, she wasn't floating up.

She plodded for two steps on the lake bottom but couldn't see Viney; so with no other choice, she decided to search around. At the same time, she was calling Viney's name in her heard constantly, hoping that it could hear her.

While walking, she suddenly saw a dented area. She walked over to look at it with curiosity, then found a long crack.

It was very dark in the lake, so she didn't notice the crack earlier. But now, as she got closer, she finally saw it.

It was all dark in the two-meters-wide crack, and nothing could be seen.

'Damn, where on earth is this place!'

Lin Qiao sensed Viney's vibe from the crack, so she wondered if she should go down there. She hesitated, because she couldn't see anything in there. Even when narrowing her eyes, she was only able to see a dark redness.

She sensed no danger from down there, but being unable to see or feel anything made her feel threatened! However, she was sure that Viney was down there. For this reason, she needed to go down… She had to!

After making the decision, she put her legs down from the edge of the crack. Then, she clasped the soft ground with her claws. The strange thing was that her claws which had stuck in the soft ground were actually able to hold her body steadily.

She slowly moved her claws to crawl downward, and soon, she could see nothing but darkness upon raising her head.

Where in the world was she?

She thought that she would need to crawl for long before reaching the bottom, but unexpectedly, her foot suddenly felt the ground after she had moved down for a few meters.

'Eh? So fast!'

She turned around and narrowed her eyes, then saw a giant sphere which was glowing with a faint green light. She walked over and reached out a hand to gently touch the giant green sphere. As she thought, she touched some vines.

The energy that she felt from the vines was very feeble. No wonder Viney had shrunk into herself and fallen into deep sleep.

Lin Qiao pressed a zombie nucleus on the giant sphere. When the zombie nucleus touched the vines, the faintly glowing green vines sparkled, and then Lin Qiao's hand sensed a vibration.

The delighted Lin Qiao quickly pressed all the other energy nuclei on Viney's body.

As she expected, those energy nuclei soon disappeared. Then, the vines under her hands began moving. The dim green light grew brighter and brighter, soon illuminating this area. Before long, this entire place was turned beautifully green.

Afterward, the large sphere began shifting shape like a monster as the frizzy vines started wagging and extending toward all directions.

An arm-thick vine quickly coiled around Lin Qiao's waist.

'Mama! Mama! Mama!'

A happy voice was immediately heard from Lin Qiao's mind.

She wasn't able to talk in the water, so instead, she said to Viney in her mind, 'Send me up.'

'Alright!'

After that, Lin Qiao felt that she was lifted up by the vine around her waist, and a strong force pushed her straight upward. She was sent up much more quickly than how she came down, and before long, she went out of the water.

Only after Lin Qiao walked out of the water to the lakeside did Viney unwrap her body.

While walking, Lin Qiao said, "Viney, you should absorb the energy in the few nuclei now. After that, you need to help Qiu Lili activate her bodily functions."

Viney touched Lin Qiao's arm and sent a message to her, 'Alright… But I might take a while to absorb the energy. Mama, please be patient and wait for me.'

"Sure!" Lin Qiao walked to the lakeside while nodding and picking up her clothes. Meanwhile, Viney's vine drew back into the lake, then sank into the water.

After experiencing the quietness down in the lake, Lin Qiao could still sense Viney's activity even after she went back into the water.

Lin Qiao understood that Viney needed some time to absorb the energy. So, she put her clothes on, then turned and walked toward the woods.

She went through the grassland to get to the woods, and as she arrived there, she found a large pile of supplies that she had collected from the Upper City District and Pinghu District earlier.

As she had stored these supplies in the woods on purpose, the group of people who stayed in her space earlier on didn't find them. All sorts of metal cabinets were piled in the woods along with some buckets and boxes, all filled with rice, flour, and some dried foods.

She only visited a few nearby storages; all those storages were untouched, so she had collected a considerable amount of food.

These foods could last a person for five years.

Lin Qiao glanced around at the weird-looking trees. She didn't know where they came from, or what they were here for.

As she was walking around in the woods to observe those trees, she suddenly sensed a strong energy vibration from the lake. She stopped and turned around to look at the lake, then walked out of the woods.

Once she came out of the woods, she saw that the waves in the lake were running high, and the water level seemed to be rising slowly.

She hurriedly ran to the lakeside and carried the chair to the woods area, then shouted at the two zombies who were sitting in the buckets with their eyes popped while staring at the lake in fear without daring to move.

"Stop staring at the lake! Come out! Help me move things! First, carry your buckets up!"

Hearing her order, the two naked zombies immediately jumped out, each dragging a bucket and running toward her.

The energy in the lake was way too strong. Therefore, the two zombies felt that they were like two tiny ants that were so weak that even a single wave from the lake could kill them.

Lin Qiao's words made them feel like they were suddenly saved.