binnovel Chapter 31 The Little Follower
Chapter 31 The Little Follower
Li Chenglong rode his motorcycle at a slow pace. He had promised Yunlan that this trip would be a thorough reconnaissance mission, so he had set the timeframe at 15 to 20 days. Along the way, Li Chenglong stopped frequently, marking locations on the map. Any zombies that dared to attack were easily eliminated by him. The straight-line distance between Jinghai City and Linhai City is 200km, while the straight-line distance between Qing'an Town and Linhai City is approximately 170km. However, since one cannot travel in a straight line, the distance and time taken will be significantly longer. At 8:00 AM, Li Chenglong arrived at Xipo Village, where Wang Bing lived. He was spotted by the villagers guarding the gate before even entering the village, but because Li Chenglong was fully armed, the villagers didn't recognize him at first.
Li Chenglong took off his motorcycle helmet, and this time the villagers recognized him. One person immediately came to greet him, while another went back to report. A little while later, Wang Bing came out. Wang Bing said happily, "Team Leader Li, what brings you here? Are you going to Linhai?" Li Chenglong first praised the village for looking quite nice now, then encouraged Wang Bing to work hard to upgrade his skills, and then rode off again.
After a morning of driving, Li Chenglong arrived in Nanliang Town at noon. Feeling a bit hungry, he parked his motorcycle and prepared to find a clean place to eat. He came to a three-story building, thought it looked decent, and was about to go inside when he suddenly heard someone shout for help from the second-floor window next door, then disappear again. As a Level 12 Awakened being with keen senses, Li Chenglong immediately pinpointed the location and looked up, but the window was empty.
Just as Li Chenglong was observing, two men tightly covered a little girl's mouth. One of the men, a man with a scar on his face, pulled out a dagger and whispered, "Don't speak, or I'll slash your cute face a few times." The little girl trembled with fear, tears streaming down her face. The other man secretly glanced out the window and said, "That man is gone. Thank goodness. That man just ripped down the broken door across the street in one go. He must be a superhuman. If he had discovered what we were doing, we would have been dead."
Seeing that the little girl had stopped moving, Scarface released her: "If you dare move again, I'll kill you right now. Shunzi, I feel we can't stay here any longer. We'll leave after we've eaten." The sleazy middle-aged man called Shunzi pointed at the little girl: "What about her?" Scarface took out a rope and tied the little girl up tightly, then taped her mouth shut before saying, "We'll just kill her, cut her into pieces, and salt her. She'll be a good food for a long time." After saying that, the two men grinned maliciously and looked back at the little girl. At this moment, the little girl was already pale with fright, sobbing and shaking her head, tears streaming down her face.
Just as the two were about to fight, the door was kicked open, sending the scarred man flying again. Li Chenglong walked in with a grim expression; he had overheard their conversation outside. Another man, named Shunzi, rushed over with a dagger. Li Chenglong punched Shunzi squarely in the chest; a muffled thud followed, and Shunzi collapsed, struggling briefly before falling lifeless. Only then could Li Chenglong see the room clearly. An eleven or twelve-year-old girl was tightly bound to a chair, unconscious. In the middle of the room was a makeshift stove with a large pot on it, bubbling away—it was obvious what they were cooking. The scarred man got up from the ground, clutching his broken arm, and knelt, kowtowing: "Great hero, spare me! Spare me! I'll never do it again!" Li Chenglong's face was cold: "How many people have you eaten?" The scarred man dared not hide anything now: "Seven."
With a loud "thud," the scarred man, along with the wall, flew out onto the street and exploded. Li Chenglong looked at the wall with a large hole punched in it: "A power-type ability user, instead of killing zombies to find food, actually did this kind of thing. He deserved to die." After saying that, Li Chenglong kicked over the large pot, picked up the little girl, and left.
The girl slowly opened her eyes and found herself in a clean room. She immediately sat up and touched her arms and legs, finding them still there, and breathed a sigh of relief. Relaxing, she remembered that someone seemed to have saved her, and quickly walked out of the room. She saw a man busy in the kitchen. Li Chenglong took out a gas cylinder from his storage space, connected it to the kitchen stove, and was cooking when he heard rustling sounds outside. Knowing the little girl must have woken up, he took the food out, along with the gas cylinder. He brought out two plates containing scrambled eggs with tomatoes and boiled sliced meat, and then handed a box of rice to the little girl: "Eat slowly, we can talk while you eat."
The little girl was overjoyed to find a hot meal with vegetables, and tears welled up in her eyes as she immediately began to eat. At the same time, Li Chenglong took out another steaming hot boxed lunch and slowly began to eat as well. Li Chenglong and Yunlan had only discovered this after carefully studying the storage space: the natural area within the storage space allowed for the flow of time, even faster, and all things could grow there. The high-tech area had a normal flow of time, but time was completely frozen in the warehouse-like areas. Therefore, Li Chenglong stored many perishable items, such as food, in those warehouses. Seeing that Li Chenglong wasn't eating the freshly cooked food but instead eating the boxed lunch, even though it looked delicious and was still steaming hot, the girl said, "Big brother, why aren't you eating this? Is that boxed lunch tastier? Can I have some too?"
Li Chenglong shook his head: "No, this food was made for me by my lover, so I can't give it to anyone else." The little girl obediently ate her food. After they finished eating, Li Chenglong asked, "Where are your parents? And how were you captured?" The little girl immediately burst into tears, saying haltingly, "My mom and dad were killed by zombies. I was bitten by one, but I didn't turn into that disgusting thing. Later, I was so hungry that I went out to find food. But I was tricked by those two bad guys. When I realized what had happened and tried to call for help, they not only grabbed me but also tied me up. Luckily, big brother, you saved me." Li Chenglong then understood the whole story and slowly said, "The dead cannot be brought back to life. You must live well. And although you haven't fully realized it yet, you have already become a superhuman."
The girl's eyes widened immediately: "A superpowered person? Is it like the kind of person in the comic book movies?" Li Chenglong nodded: "More or less. You're currently a level one wind-type superpowered person. I'll teach you some techniques for using your superpowers in a bit. You need to study hard so you can protect yourself." The little girl nodded: "By the way, I still don't know your name. My name is Han Xiaoling, and I'm 11 years old." Li Chenglong smiled and replied: "My name is Li Chenglong." The two chatted for a while longer, and Li Chenglong told her some techniques for using superpowers and methods for increasing their strength.
Wind-based abilities tend towards ranged attacks, primarily using wind blades. They can also be used in conjunction with fire, water, and earth-based abilities to enhance their power. Among ability users, it's considered a slightly above-average ability. After two hours of learning and practice, Han Xiaoling was finally able to use her ability relatively skillfully. The next hurdle was her mental fortitude. Li Chenglong took Xiaoling out to find a few more zombies for her to attack from a distance. Encouraged by Li Chenglong, Xiaoling killed three zombies.
The two returned to their old house. Li Chenglong nodded, "Alright, you must remember not to be soft-hearted towards zombies. Also, never provoke a zombie that is clearly stronger than yourself. Furthermore, while zombies are scary, humans are even scarier. Do you understand?" Han Xiaoling nodded, seemingly understanding, and then asked, "Brother Li, are you leaving?" Li Chenglong smiled and said, "I still have a mission to complete, and this trip might be dangerous, so take good care of yourself. However, I will leave you some supplies, but not much. I hope you can grow stronger slowly."
Han Xiaoling immediately rushed over and hugged Li Chenglong: "I don't want to! My parents are dead. I've lived alone for so long, and now that I finally have a brother, he's leaving too! I don't want to!" She then burst into tears. Li Chenglong thought for a moment and felt it wasn't good to leave her alone, after all, she was only at level one and had just learned her abilities; whether she would survive was still unknown. Li Chenglong sighed: "Alright, but you have to follow my instructions. If you can do it, I'll take you. It's getting late; I can manage on my own. Let's rest here for the night and set off tomorrow morning." Xiaoling immediately stopped crying and began studying her wind-based abilities again.
Li Chenglong reorganized the route he had recorded on the map and in his notebook that day, and then planned the next route. Xiaoling came over at this time, saw Li Chenglong writing and drawing, and watched curiously for a while, but quickly got bored and went back to fiddling with her supernatural abilities. As evening approached, Li Chenglong cooked another meal, and the two spent dinner chatting and laughing. Li Chenglong placed a rechargeable lamp in Xiaoling's room: "Use it sparingly." Then he said, "Go to the bathroom, I've prepared some things for you there." As he spoke, Li Chenglong placed some toiletries and a clean set of clothes on Xiaoling's bed. These were things he had collected at the mall before, giving a lot to Yunlan, but because he had collected so much back then, he still had some left. Li Chenglong had experience taking care of Li Xue when she was a child, so he knew a lot about what size clothes little girls wore.
Han Xiaoling was surprised to see clean clothes and toiletries by the bedside. She then took the toiletries to the bathroom and found a large bucket of steaming water. This water had been boiled by Li Chenglong in his spare time so that he or Yunlan could bathe easily. It had been stored in his storage space to maintain a constant temperature, so it could be used whenever needed. Han Xiaoling was delighted to see such a large bucket of water. Li Chenglong then said from outside the door, "I'm going back to my room. You should rest well after you shower. We'll leave at 8 am tomorrow." Xiaoling excitedly said, "Thank you, Brother Li! I haven't showered for a month. Thank you so much today, boohoo!" She then started crying again. Li Chenglong smiled faintly and went back to his room.
The next morning at 8 a.m., Li Chenglong called Xiaoling out for breakfast. As soon as the door opened, Xiaoling, dressed in her new clothes, threw herself at Li Chenglong: "Can I call you brother from now on? Besides my parents, you're the only one who's ever been so good to me." Li Chenglong put Xiaoling down: "Of course you can, call me whatever you want. Okay, hurry up and brush your teeth and eat. We'll set off after breakfast." This morning's breakfast consisted of a carton of warmed milk, a piece of bread, and a fried egg for each of them. After the two finished eating, Li Chenglong, under Han Xiaoling's surprised gaze, took out his motorcycle. He first put protective gear on Xiaoling, then took out a children's helmet and put it on her, before putting on his own helmet and preparing to leave. After Han Xiaoling was seated, Li Chenglong started the motorcycle: "Get ready, let's go." He then started the motorcycle and sped off. Today, his goal was to reach Chongwu County, which was more than 50 kilometers away from Linhai City, and only 40 kilometers away from them. Excluding the time spent scouting the road conditions, they could arrive in half a day at most.
During breakfast this morning, Li Chenglong had initially told Han Xiaoling that he wanted to send her to Xipo Village to be temporarily cared for by Wang Bing, and that he would pick her up when he returned from Linhai. However, Han Xiaoling absolutely refused, so Li Chenglong had to give up the idea. They didn't encounter any danger along the way, except for a small group of dozens of zombies. To train Han Xiaoling, Li Chenglong had her launch the attacks while he provided cover. Although it took a considerable amount of time, the results were significant. Han Xiaoling's understanding of her abilities, skill proficiency, and experience points all increased considerably. This is the advantage of solo action—faster leveling up. However, operating like his own Dawn Base isn't bad either, because individual strength is ultimately limited. It's only effective against large groups of zombies or stronger zombies, where the advantages of group combat become apparent.
Li Chenglong was very satisfied: "Very good, you'll level up after killing a dozen more zombies. But it's almost noon, so let's get going." After saying that, he drove Xiaoling towards Chongwu County. Along the way, Li Chenglong used his supernatural abilities to kill any zombies that blocked their path from a distance. At noon, Li Chenglong and Han Xiaoling finally arrived at their destination.