Under the moonlight, Lin Zaozao was resting her chin in one hand, leaning against Zhao Cai's back with her legs propped up on Jin Bao's paws as the three of them drooled while waiting for Uncle Zhang to grill the rabbit.
Watching Uncle Zhang deftly shaking seasoning onto the rabbit meat, Lin Zaozao felt her own saliva nearly start flowing.
So hungry!
"Uncle Zhang, is the rabbit grilled yet? Can we eat it now?"
"Girl, you must be starving! Wait just a little longer, I just need to sprinkle on some more salt."
As he grilled the rabbit, Uncle Zhang glanced over at the starving trio and had to resist laughing.
Ah, they're all still just kids!
After sprinkling on the salt, Uncle Zhang handed one of the grilled rabbits over to Lin Zaozao.
"Here you go, girl."
"Oh good, thanks Uncle Zhang!"
Taking the grilled rabbit, Lin Zaozao sniffed it appreciatively, licked her lips, swallowed, then opened her mouth to take a big bite just as Zhao Cai and Jin Bao's huge wolf mouths both lunged for the rabbit as well.
Still holding the skewer she was using to grill the rabbit, Lin Zaozao blankly swallowed the bite in her mouth. She turned to see Zhao Cai and Jin Bao ripping the grilled rabbit clean in half and wolfing it down with relish.
Recalling the tempting aroma of the grilled rabbit and looking at the now bare skewer in her hand, Lin Zaozao was furious on top of her hunger pangs. She immediately wrapped her arms around Zhao Cai's head and shoved her hand into its mouth to try and wrestle back some of the half-chewed rabbit pieces it was about to swallow.
"Zhao Cai, you bastard, give me back my grilled rabbit... I haven't even gotten to eat any yet! How dare you snatch food from my own mouth! Spit it out right now!"
Seeing Lin Zaozao's ferocious expression, Zhao Cai rolled its eyes at her then nonchalantly pinned her whole body beneath one heavy paw.
It proceeded to flick out its tongue and gulp down the rest of the rabbit meat. Seeing Zhao Cai's actions, Jin Bao, who was crouched nearby, also hurried to swallow the remaining rabbit meat in its mouth.
Only after Jin Bao had also eaten its fill did Zhao Cai deign to lift its paw and release Lin Zaozao.
Having gotten a mouthful of dirt, Lin Zaozao spat and pushed her disheveled hair back behind her head. She grinned at Zhao Cai and Jin Bao, then immediately pounced on top of them to initiate a wrestling match.
"Bastards, you already finished your own rabbit! Why'd you have to steal mine! Give it back, spit it out! Ahhhhh! I'm gonna die angry and starving here."
Clinging onto Zhao Cai's back, Lin Zaozao had one arm wrapped around its neck while her other hand was shoved into its mouth.
Seeing her savage actions, Zhao Cai once again lifted a paw to pin Lin Zaozao down.
Having learned her lesson, Lin Zaozao nimbly dodged the paw this time and retaliated by biting down firmly but not too hard on one of its ears.
As Lin Zaozao and Zhao Cai tussled fiercely, what about Uncle Zhang and Jin Bao?
The two were nonchalantly grilling up another rabbit, with Jin Bao resting its head casually atop its paws as it watched the show.
Eventually, after enough roughhousing, Lin Zaozao's hair was clawed into a bird's nest while Zhao Cai's slick fur coat now resembled a tattered rug.
And so, having damaged the enemy by 800 but lost 1,000 troops herself, Lin Zaozao had no choice but to end the battle.
"Hey girl, this other rabbit is grilled now too. Hurry up and eat it while it's hot!"
"I don't want any, Uncle Zhang. You've been grilling all this time without getting to eat anything yourself!"
"Now now girl, this rabbit is too big for me to finish alone. Come on over quick and help me eat some rabbit."
Hearing Uncle Zhang coaxing her like a child, Lin Zaozao's nose reddened as the aroma of grilled rabbit still hung temptingly in the air. Giving in to her loudly gurgling, empty stomach, she shuffled back over to him with some embarrassment on her face.
"Here, start off with a rabbit leg. I'll keep an eye out this time and make sure Zhao Cai and Jin Bao don't snatch it away from you."
"Thanks, Uncle. You should eat too! Going a whole day without food, you must be starving as well."
Pouting, Lin Zaozao took a fierce bite of rabbit meat, then shot Zhao Cai and Jin Bao a smug look.
Meeting Lin Zaozao's challenging gaze, Jin Bao didn't even deign to glance her way, just continued lounging quietly. As for Zhao Cai - after nonchalantly licking its own paws, it let out a contemptuous whine towards Lin Zaozao.
Translated, Zhao Cai's whine meant...
"Weakling!"
"Why you...!"
"What's the matter, girl? Why are you getting so worked up?"
Seeing Uncle Zhang's concerned look, Lin Zaozao peeked around him to glare once more at Zhao Cai, who had already curled up to rest. She could only smile brightly at Uncle Zhang and shake her head to indicate nothing was wrong.
What could she say? That the jerk Zhao Cai had just called her a weakling?
Obviously she couldn't.
It's just that, "weakling" was a modern slang term people wouldn't have used before she crossed over here. So how did Zhao Cai even know that word?
She was certain she had never uttered the term in front of them. So there could only be one conclusion - her previous self from her past life must have also been a cross-over.
Thinking this, Lin Zaozao took a deep breath, bowed her head and fiercely tore off another chunk of rabbit meat.
After that scuffle with Zhao Cai, Lin Zaozao only managed to eat two rabbit legs before losing her appetite altogether.
Uncle Zhang polished off the remaining rabbit meat.
"Uncle Zhang, how come Dashan and the others still haven't caught up to us? I hope nothing happened to them along the way!"
"Girl, the guards and attendants by Dashan's side are all top-notch masters. Don't you worry about them. As for why Prince Ye Yi and Prince Ye Nuo took a different route at the start, who knows if their journey has been smooth or not?"
"I hope Ye Yi and Little Liuli are safe. If I had known this earlier I wouldn't have rushed ahead so quickly by myself either. If we had traveled together with Ye Yi and Little Liuli, at least we could have looked after one another."
Sitting back down next to Zhao Cai, Lin Zaozao grabbed its large tail to wipe her hands, voicing her worries out loud.
Just sitting here fretting over Ye Yi and Little Liuli as well as Dashan's safety was nerve wracking. She was desperately waiting for them all to hurry up and catch up so they could head to Purgatory Valley together.
Just as Lin Zaozao was leaning against Zhao Cai's back lost in thought, a familiar voice suddenly rang out clearly in her ears.
"Zaozao..."
Lin Zaozao whipped her head around to see Dashan standing there dressed all in black, staring at her in surprise.
"Dashan... Dashan..."
Supporting herself against Zhao Cai's back, Lin Zaozao quickly got to her feet and stumbled over to Dashan. Only when she got right in front of him under the cold moonlight could she clearly make out his face.
At the moment, one entire side of Dashan's face was caked in dried blood. His originally refined and peerlessly handsome visage now looked ghastly, as if a vengeful female ghost had crawled its way up from hell.
Yet somehow, there was an inexplicable allure to it.
"Dashan... is it really you?"
Lin Zaozao reached out a trembling hand to gently grasp Dashan's arm, her voice quivering audibly as she spoke.
After worrying for so long, now that Dashan was standing right before her eyes, she actually felt like crying.
"It's me, Zaozao."
Seeing the red-rimmed eyes of the little girl in front of him, Dashan discarded the bloodied blade in his hand and immediately pulled Lin Zaozao into his embrace.
Thank goodness he had arrived just in time.
His little girl was still safe and sound in his arms. Recalling the message Matchless and Invincible had relayed to him, Dashan's heart was still pounding wildly.
He had been embroiled in a life and death battle inside Purgatory Valley when the message came that Lin Zaozao was hurrying over to try and save him.
At that moment, that piece of news had nearly scared him to death.
What kind of hellscape was Purgatory Valley?
The most terrifying thing inside wasn't any mechanisms or poisonous mists. The most terrifying things were those cannibalistic poison men, as well as those living dead without a shred of humanity.
They crawled out from hell like evil ghosts. If you let your guard down even a little, they would latch onto your neck and gnaw on your flesh, sucking your blood dry.
His little girl had never seen such bloody scenes from when she was small to when she grew up. What if seeing that human hell scared her?
After all, things like that have happened before. Among the new people who had just been thrown into Purgatory Valley, dying from fright on the first day after being scared by the human hell of Purgatory Valley wasn't uncommon.
Lin Zaozao, who was being held in Matchless' embrace, could clearly feel his body trembling nonstop.
She reached out to hug Matchless back, hoping to make him feel a little safer through her warm body temperature.
"Matchless, weren't you in Purgatory Valley? How come you're here?" Lin Zaozao asked in puzzlement.
Only after hearing Lin Zaozao's confusion did Matchless steady his emotions. He held Lin Zaozao's body upright with both hands and looked into her eyes as he said seriously,
"Zaozao, I received Invincible and Matchless' message saying you were going to come to Purgatory Valley. Zaozao, Purgatory Valley isn't a place you should come.
That place is far too dangerous and really isn't somewhere a little girl like you should go. After your guards catch up, go back to Cold Country with them. I can handle things alone in Purgatory Valley."
As she listened to Matchless' nagging voice, Lin Zaozao felt a sticky sensation on her hands. She quickly rolled up Matchless' sleeves and took a look.
Beneath his sleeves were dense, crisscrossing wounds. Some of the wounds had already festered.
Slapping away Matchless' hand that tried to stop her, Lin Zaozao directly ripped open Matchless' collar. The scene she saw next caused her eyes to swiftly turn red.
Matchless' chest was full of wounds so deep that bone could be seen. Some of the wounds had been haphazardly bandaged. As for some wounds, the flesh was split open, continuously oozing blood.
Upon seeing this, Lin Zaozao's tears flowed uncontrolled down her cheeks. The message sent back by her scouts clearly stated that a riot had broken out in Purgatory Valley and Demon Lord Gu Shan's life hung by a thread.
But looking at the wounds covering Matchless' body, what else could she not understand? The moment Matchless learned she was hurrying over to Purgatory Valley, he had tossed aside everything in his hands and rushed over regardless of anything, just to prevent her from facing danger.
That was his goal.
Grasping Matchless' hand, Lin Zaozao silently transferred his illnesses and injuries over to herself. After the transfer finished, while Matchless still hadn't reacted, Lin Zaozao directly fed him the level four Bone Cleansing Liquid and Beauty Liquid she had obtained.
Anyway, the system had said she wouldn't gain half a pound no matter how much Bone Cleansing Liquid and Beauty Liquid she fed others within this month.
So if she didn't take advantage now to improve her little husbands' physiques a bit, then she, Lin Zaozao, would be a huge fool.
