CH 43

Wen Qingling spoke and acted accordingly. It was not until Xiao Hen sent Meng Lao away that he appeared.

Xiao Hen felt helpless toward Wen Qingling. Watching him approach step by step, he thought he would say something, but unexpectedly, the first thing he said was, “100 ordinary crystals.”

Xiao Hen: “…”

Xiao Hen looked at Ji Rong, who was following Wen Qingling.

Ji Rong raised his arm without any visible traces, indicating that the crystals were spent on this.

Xiao Hen had no choice but to pay with another batch of crystals.

After receiving the treatment fee, Wen Qingling spoke again, “Do you want to rescue those three assistants?”

Xiao Hen: “If it’s possible to save them, then definitely.”

Wen Qingling: “No need to rescue them. They have already been thrown to feed the zombies by that Colonel.”

Xiao Hen: “…”

Ji Rong: “!!!!”

Ji Rong: “Damn it, I knew that bastard named Yin is no good!”

Ji Rong worriedly asked, “Boss, how do we explain this to Meng Lao?”

Xiao Hen: “Those four followed Yin Cheng here. Whether it’s protection or abandonment, it’s their own business. I only promised Meng Lao to do my best to save them. If I can’t, there’s nothing I can do.”

Xiao Hen: “Since they followed here, they should be prepared that they can’t go back.”

Xiao Hen asked Wen Qingling, “Do you want to go and see the armed helicopter now?”

Wen Qingling looked in a certain direction and left a word before disappearing.

Wen Qingling: “Wait for me here. I’ll be back soon.”

The zombies in Rong City made the air force training base their stronghold, and it wasn’t a spontaneous formation. There was a “leader” present.

Wen Qingling appeared in front of a dormitory building surrounded by zombies. There were soldier zombies and civilian zombies.

At the entrance of the dormitory building, there stood a 7 or 8-year-old girl. She was wearing a princess dress and little leather shoes that should have been beautiful. However, the princess dress was torn and dirty, and the red leather shoes had turned black from the dirt. In her arms, she held a doll that had its body but no head, revealing a clumped black cotton filling.

Her hair was disheveled, and her face and mouth were covered in black blood stains. Her gray-white eyes stared intensely at Wen Qingling. When she saw Wen Qingling appear, the little girl let out a cautious roar.

Wen Qingling, with a blank expression on his face, stared back at the little girl. Clearly, he didn’t expect the “leader” of Rong City to be such a small child. Wen Qingling was most afraid of dealing with children, especially delicate little girls. Reasoning with them was futile. If things didn’t go their way, they would cry and throw tantrums. You couldn’t hit or kill them, only pacify them.

Wen Qingling lacked the patience to appease others.

Wen Qingling attempted to communicate, “Can you understand what I’m saying?”

In response, the little girl lunged at Wen Qingling and tried to bite him.

Wen Qingling: “…”

Indeed, she was a child who didn’t understand fear. She dared to bite even Wen Qingling, whom she will call “Daddy Wen.”

Wen Qingling slapped her, sending the little girl flying into the group of zombies. The enraged girl howled, commanding her zombie minions to attack Wen Qingling. Unfortunately, these ordinary zombies were already suppressed by Wen Qingling and couldn’t heed the girl’s orders.

With Wen Qingling’s current oppressive presence, even evolved zombies could be kept in check. However, there were always a few fearless evolved zombies who attempted to challenge “Daddy Wen.” The crushed Level 3 evolved zombie was one, and the Level 6 evolved zombie after him was the second.

The little girl couldn’t control the zombie horde, and she became frantic. Once again, she lunged at Wen Qingling to bite him.

Wen Qingling initially intended to grab her by the neck, but seeing the black blood stains on her neck and mouth, he felt a strong aversion. Instead, he grabbed a clean portion of her princess dress, but the dress was too fragile. With a tearing sound, a piece of cloth came off, and the little girl fell to the ground.

Wen Qingling: “…”

The little girl turned her head to look at her exposed back and fell silent.

Wen Qingling joined her in silence, feeling the need to confront his own mistake. The little girl, even as a zombie, was still a girl. He sincerely apologized, “I’m sorry. I can compensate you with a new dress.”

After a moment of silence, the little girl suddenly let out a piercing scream. The sound was so loud that it shattered the glass windows of the dormitory building, causing even Xiao Hen and Ji Rong, who were far away in the city center of Rong City, to feel a piercing pain in their eardrums and a heavy sensation in their heads.

Ji Rong desperately covered his ears and shouted, “What the hell is happening?! What is Wen Qingling doing? What kind of sound is this?!”

Xiao Hen was also in discomfort, watching Wen Qingling disappear in the direction of the sound. A small black dot appeared in the distance and rapidly approached. Wen Qingling flew back, looking somewhat disheveled. This was indeed a rare sight.

Xiao Hen: “What is that sound?”

Wen Qingling: “It’s a ‘leader’.”

Xiao Hen instinctively tightened his grip on the knife in his hand. Whenever they encountered a “leader,” they had to eliminate it. The “leader” was a disaster for the survivor base.

Ji Rong rubbed his ear and asked, “What happened to you? Why did it scream like that?”

Wen Qingling gestured, “I accidentally tore its princess dress.”

Xiao Hen: “…”

Ji Rong: “…”

Both of them looked at Wen Qingling with a gaze that clearly said, ‘So you’re this kind of Wen Qingling.’

Wen Qingling said, “I’m most afraid of dealing with children. Quickly find me an identical princess dress.”

Xiao Hen and Ji Rong: “…”

Xiao Hen: “We haven’t seen it, how can we find it? What color is it? What style? What size?”

Wen Qingling looked at Xiao Hen, and Xiao Hen looked at Wen Qingling. The two stared at each other in disbelief.

Wen Qingling said, “I don’t know what color it is. It’s already so dirty that I can’t tell the color anymore.”

Wen Qingling continued, “How about I go and bring it here for you to identify?”

“Don’t go…” Ji Rong hadn’t finished speaking his words of discouragement when Wen Qingling disappeared once again.

Ji Rong felt hopeless, “Boss if we have to face the scream of a ‘leader,’ do we still have a way out?”

Did your focus go back to your hometown? Is it really the issue of the scream that we should be concerned about? Shouldn’t we be more concerned about the fact that Wen Qingling said he would capture the ‘leader’ and just went to do it?

Soon, Wen Qingling returned, carrying a child in his hand. This time, he wasn’t afraid of tearing the princess dress because he had bound the little girl with vines and brought her over.

The bound little girl zombie was swaying in the air, constantly emitting angry low growls.

Xiao Hen: “…”

Ji Rong: “…”

Xiao Hen: “A ‘leader’?”

Wen Qingling nodded, “A ‘leader’.”

Ji Rong: “So small?”

Wen Qingling nodded again, “So small.”

The little girl zombie kicked her legs in the air, trying to swing over and bite the two humans.

Wen Qingling pinched the headless doll of the little girl with two fingers and waved it in front of her. The little girl’s gaze followed the movement of the headless doll, and then it fell to the ground with a “thud.”

Wen Qingling: “See that? If you don’t listen, this is what happens.”

Little girl zombie: “…”

Xiao Hen: “…”

Ji Rong: “…”

Oh no, oh no, oh no, here comes the eerie sound!

As expected, the little girl zombie was greatly stimulated. She opened her dark mouth and was about to start screaming again. Wen Qingling reached out from a distance, grabbed the headless doll, and stuffed it into the mouth of the little girl zombie, silencing her scream.

Xiao Hen and Ji Rong finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Wen Qingling: “Seems like intimidation doesn’t work.”

Ji Rong went into a frenzy, “Forget about zombies, even regular kids won’t be soothed by intimidation!”

Wen Qingling slumped his face, “So we have to coax her?”

Ji Rong: “We must coax her!”

Wen Qingling tossed the little girl zombie to Ji Rong, “It’s up to you to coax her. Take care of it.”

Ji Rong panicked as he held the tossed little zombie, “No, it’s a zombie, not a human. How am I supposed to coax it?”

The little girl zombie growled in her throat, attempting to bite Ji Rong several times, but the headless doll in her mouth blocked her.

Wen Qingling walked ahead, heading to the mall to find a princess dress for the little girl.

Xiao Hen’s gaze at the little girl zombie grew colder and colder. Before he could unsheathe his knife, Wen Qingling’s voice came through, “Don’t kill it, I need it for something.”

Xiao Hen: “What use do you have for a ‘leader’?”

Wen Qingling climbed up the escalator, only halfway up realizing why he bothered climbing these laborious stairs when he could have just jumped up effortlessly.

Wen Qingling jumped to the second floor, saying, “I need a ‘leader’ to guard Rong City for me.”

Here, there are armed helicopters. If a determined human were to get their hands on a helicopter and fly over Ling City, it would cause chaos. Even if Rong City happens to have a ‘leader,’ he wants to extradite one from Ling City as well.

Xiao Hen appeared next to Wen Qingling and asked, “What do you want to do? Guard against humans?”

Wen Qingling looked at him strangely, “Shouldn’t we guard against humans? If that Colonel gets hold of an armed helicopter, wouldn’t he fly over Ling City and start a massacre?”

Xiao Hen fell silent. Yin Cheng is definitely capable of doing such a thing.

Wen Qingling went straight to the children’s clothing store. The clothes in the store were relatively clean apart from some dust. He compared each item, trying to find a princess dress similar to the one worn by the little girl zombie.

Xiao Hen glanced back at Ji Rong. He was still struggling to climb the stairs, holding the little zombie at a distance.

Xiao Hen: “Can I ask about your level?”

Wen Qingling: “I don’t have a level.”

Xiao Hen: “Without a level, can you really control a ‘leader’?”

Wen Qingling: “Who said I can control it?”

Unless the ‘leader’ consumes his blood anemones, it’s not easy for him to control a free ‘leader.’

Currently, the highest evolved being that has consumed blood anemones is the duo “leaders,” the sisters. Wen Qingling can clearly feel that his control over the sisters is not as effortless as controlling ordinary zombies. The same goes for the Blood Corpse. He needs to exert effort to suppress and control them for them to be effective.

Perhaps it’s related to his own strength. Only when his strength far surpasses theirs can he guarantee complete dominance.

Xiao Hen frowned. He had already learned from his experience not to trust blindly. It was instinctual for him to be skeptical.

Wen Qingling said, “There’s no need to rely on level suppression. Other methods can also achieve the desired result.”

Xiao Hen asked, “Aren’t zombies all about hierarchy and levels?”

Wen Qingling took out a bag and packed the selected little dress and shoes. “That’s true. Do you think I resemble a zombie?”

Xiao Hen looked at him and replied, “No, you don’t resemble a zombie at all. Instead, you look very much like a human.”

Wen Qingling said, “But I’m not a human either. What do you think I am?”

Xiao Hen didn’t know, and he didn’t know how to categorize Wen Qingling’s existence.

Wen Qingling smirked and said, “I’m not entirely human, nor am I entirely a zombie. Therefore, the rules of both humans and zombies are irrelevant to me.”

Xiao Hen remained silent.

Ji Rong finally caught up, looking exhausted. He said, “Can you two wait for me for a moment?”

Wen Qingling walked over with several paper bags and took out a small dress, unfolding it to show the little zombie. “Is this pretty?”

The little girl zombie growled in her throat.

Wen Qingling switched to another dress. “How about this one?”

The little girl zombie responded with more growls.

Wen Qingling continued changing dresses, and the little girl continued to growl. Xiao Hen and Ji Rong couldn’t understand their communication, so they could only stand by and wait as the two of them selected their clothes.

Wen Qingling showed the little girl zombie a pair of small shoes. “Look at these shoes. Are they beautiful? They’re definitely prettier than your shoes.”

The little girl zombie growled and struggled, trying to pounce on Wen Qingling. It was clear from her reaction that the little zombie was very unhappy.

Wen Qingling stopped showing the small shoes and looked at the little zombie strangely. “Did you lose your eyesight after becoming a zombie? It’s obvious to everyone whether your shoes are pretty or the ones I picked.”

The little girl zombie growled, “Roar! Roar!”

Wen Qingling said, “You have poor eyesight.”

The little girl zombie growled even louder, “Roar! Roar! Roar!!!”

Wen Qingling repeated, “You have poor eyesight!”

Xiao Hen said, “…”

Ji Rong said, “…”

Are they arguing?

Ji Rong wiped his sweat and asked, “Brother, is it really okay for you to argue with a zombie?”

Wen Qingling rolled up his sleeves and said, “This is a matter of aesthetics. Even if it’s a zombie, one should not lose the pursuit of beauty!”

Ji Rong said, “…”

Well, as long as you’re happy.