After the brother and sister had eaten and drunk their fill, Lin You'an felt they had rested enough and forced himself to stand up on his weary legs, holding his sister tightly.
Looking around, he realized this area was unfamiliar to him, as if he had never been here before. Where did these paths lead?
He hesitated for a moment, thinking that if worst came to worst, they could simply turn back. They could just give the ruined temple a wide berth. After all, he had grown accustomed to taking detours over the past day and night.
If it weren't for the fear of the Zhou Family pursuing them, he wouldn't have chosen such desolate mountain paths. It must have been his father's blessing from the underworld that they hadn't encountered any wolves or tigers despite walking for so long.
Of course, he had no idea how many unnecessary detours they had taken. But he was willing to do so, as it made him feel safer.
Although he never expected to stumble upon a terrifying murder scene. The most unfortunate, of course, was the woman strangled by the servants.
When they were sheltering from the rain in the ruined temple earlier, he heard numerous footsteps approaching and quickly hid. He initially thought the Zhou Family had caught up with them, but the situation turned out to be even more dangerous.
Thankfully, he was quick-witted, and Wan Wan was obedient. He managed to cover his sister's mouth and hide inside the belly of a mountain god statue with a large hole, narrowly escaping disaster.
It was a pity for the woman who was strangled and then seemingly came back to life. From what he overheard the servants saying, she seemed to be the true legitimate young miss of the Gu Family.
But her fate was truly extraordinary. When he had mustered the courage to search her body, she had no signs of life, yet she managed to revive.
What incredible luck!
Now that he had rested and his mind was clearer, Lin You'an recalled some strange tales his father had once told him, including examples of people reviving even three days after their apparent death.
That woman must have been in a similar situation.
Speak of the devil – just as he thought about the unfortunate woman, he looked up to see her figure slowly swaying towards him.
To be on the safe side, Lin You'an quickly glanced at the ground, and sure enough, there was a shadow! Only then did he dare to breathe a sigh of relief.
She was indeed alive!
He felt embarrassed thinking about how he had frightened himself earlier. However, since she hadn't died, his act of searching her body for valuables was truly disrespectful.
While inwardly speculating about her intentions for following them, Lin You'an sincerely apologized.
"I shouldn't have searched your body earlier. It was extremely disrespectful, and I'm truly sorry. If you can't forgive me, you can hit me back. But please, don't harm my sister. She's still young..."
His words were polite, but when he saw her bend down and reach out, he still trembled in fear, turning to shield his sister in his arms.
Then, just as he did when beaten by Zhou Chengguang's two sons, he curled up into a ball, protecting his head and limbs.
Lin You'an could feel her pouncing on him like a hungry tiger. The looming threat of her larger body was all too familiar from his experiences with the Zhou Family over the past few months.
A flash of deep resentment passed through his intelligent eyes. He would remember every bit of this pain! And he would remember every enemy who inflicted it upon him!
One day, he would take revenge on each and every one of them!
Chu Chi crouched down swiftly, extending her hand with lightning speed to grab the plump black-spotted snake, then returned to her energy-conserving slow pace.
After wandering for such a long distance on an empty stomach, she had finally managed to catch some prey. Although she wasn't sure why she instinctively knew this was food.
Standing up, she tilted her head to examine the coils of meat wrapped around her hand, completely ignoring Lin You'an, who was trying to shrink into a ball beside her.
After all, in the eyes of a hungry zombie, nothing was more important than food! She needed to eat immediately.
Holding the ugly head of her prey in her hand, its tongue sticking out, a rare hint of contemplation flashed through her vacant eyes.
What was this thing? Which part should she eat?
Recalling her previous feeding habits, she crushed the snake's head with a quick squeeze. Then she used her left hand to poke and prod at the bloody snake head and stiff body, trying to find chicken-flavored food.
But!
Could someone please tell this noble zombie where the little round balls in the prey's head had gone? Those shiny, crunchy little snacks!
This unfortunate black snake not only died without dignity but was also poked and prodded into a mess after death.
After thoroughly examining it from head to tail, squeezing every bit, and nearly turning the snake into a paste, Chu Chi's newly grown brain was forced to conclude:
The way to eat this prey seemed different from her previous hunting experiences.
Tilting her head, she stared at the stiff dead snake in her hand. Look, look hard! Chu Chi tried to make her new brain tell her quickly where she should start eating this prey.
After all, she was a zombie with cleanliness issues. In the past, she would wash her food many times until it became shiny and beautiful before allowing it into her noble zombie mouth.
But looking at her current prey, she felt that no matter how much she washed it, this black thing probably wouldn't turn into a beautiful, shiny morsel.
The air was silent until sweat, drawn out by the sun, trickled down her forehead. Only then did Chu Chi give up thinking for the nth time.
Her eyeballs moved slightly, automatically focusing on the young NPC sitting nearby, his face full of shock and disbelief.
As a high-quality zombie with no fundamental difference from humans, Chu Chi recalled the social skills she had secretly learned while mingling in human bases.
She shifted her body slightly, turning her face towards the young one, and raised the prey in her hand.
Then, slowly blinking, she pulled the muscles at the corners of her mouth upward, forming a self-satisfying arc, and habitually cleared her throat with a couple of "ho-ho" sounds.
Time to perform.
"Hello, young one. Could you please tell Chu Chi which part of this should be eaten?"
The short sentence was stuttered several times, but she was quite satisfied with herself.
Listen to that! She was indeed a brilliantly clever zombie. Look how perfectly she was disguising herself! Surely no one would ever suspect she wasn't human!
