Chapter 45 The Abandoned Vessel

Li Luyan looked at the little bastard with a suspicious expression: "Just you?" She felt that this dog had been acting weird lately, but she couldn't quite pinpoint what was wrong—it was simply far too eager.

The little bastard was displeased, its canine face turning serious: "I am a creation of the gods! No one can hide any malicious intentions from my discerning eyes!" With that, it rolled its eyes around in a dramatic circle.

Apart from looking comical, it showed no discernible abilities whatsoever.

Seeing that Li Luyan remained silent, the little bastard continued to rub its small head against her calf: "I just want to protect you～"

Liu Qingye scooped the little dog up and held it in his arms. "Fine, then you can keep watch with me." He wanted to see what kind of medicine this dog was selling in its gourd. Its behavior was far too bizarre; if it dared to harbor any ulterior motives toward his older sister, it shouldn't blame him—

Liu Qingye narrowed his eyes, a gloomy light flashing within them.

Deep into the night, everyone had fallen into a deep sleep. They were utterly exhausted from the past few days, yet for some reason, Liu Qingye felt a sense of reassurance in their presence.

Liu Qingye sat leaning against the wall, his eyes half-closed so that he appeared to be fast asleep. The little bastard was tied to his ankle by a red string.

At first, the little dog tried to act cute to win favor, but seeing that Liu Qingye remained unmoved, it simply sprawled out on the ground and pretended to sleep, its ears twitching from time to time.

This man was too difficult to deal with; it sensed that he was extremely dangerous. Yet, it genuinely wanted to switch sides now, even though it had previously plotted to take Li Luyan's life.

"Stop pretending," Liu Qingye suddenly spoke, his voice as cold as ice. Hearing his words, the little bastard gave a start of fright.

"Tell me, what is your true purpose in getting close to my sister?" Liu Qingye half-closed his eyes, looking down contemptuously at the little bastard. That single glance startled the creature so much that it shivered.

"No... I just want to protect Lady Luyan." To prove its innocence, it stiffened its neck and said, "You shouldn't make wild guesses about other people's intentions!"

"Is that so..." Liu Qingye tightened the red string in his hand.

The little bastard felt as though it was suffocating. Although this human couldn't actually kill it, the pain was entirely real.

Its ears twitched twice, and it stammered, "S-Someone is coming."

Liu Qingye released the red string, and the little bastard flopped onto the ground, panting heavily like a traveler in the desert who had finally found water.

Liu Qingye leaned back against the wall and resumed his fake sleep. Understanding his intent, the little bastard also lay down beside his feet and pretended to slumber.

"Rustle..."

The newcomer hunched over, cautiously creeping forward, unaware that all of her actions had already been taken in by Liu Qingye.

Seeing the woman quietly walk up to stand before Li Luyan, Liu Qingye forcefully suppressed the urge to step forward and cut her down.

He wanted to see exactly what this woman intended to do.

The woman fumbled around Li Luyan's collar, causing Li Luyan to slowly open her eyes. The intruder failed to notice, continuing her search with even greater anxiety.

The next second, a sudden change occurred. Li Luyan grabbed the woman's wrist and pinned her down onto the sleeping mat.

"Yu Niaoniao?" Li Luyan recognized the intruder, a dangerous edge in her tone. "What are you doing?"

"I..." After struggling twice to no avail, Yu Niaoniao adopted a look of resignation, as if to say do whatever you want with me. "Fine, fine! I was after the Crystal of Destiny."

"The Crystal of Destiny?" Li Luyan suddenly curled the corners of her lips into a smile, though it was a perilous one. "Did Zhang Min send you?" It seemed Zhang Min lacked sincerity, and she wouldn't mind ensuring they never made it out of the underground mall alive.

"No!" Yu Niaoniao's voice suddenly turned somewhat emotional. "It's so easy to die in this apocalypse! With a magical treasure that can grant resurrection..."

"Who wouldn't want to fight for it!"

Li Luyan's gaze abruptly turned icy, her fingers tightening slightly. Yu Niaoniao felt as though she could no longer breathe, her mouth gaping as she tried to grasp at the meager air.

"Sister Yan! What are you two doing?" Yu Yue woke up at some point. The underground mall was very dark, and from her perspective, it looked like Li Luyan had pinned Yu Niaoniao to the floor in a classic wall-pin posture.

Acting like a child who had accidentally interrupted her parents flirting, she covered her eyes with both hands and let out a bizarre chuckle.

Now, everyone was woken up by the commotion.

A flush crept up Li Luyan's face as she quickly released her grip and stood up. Meanwhile, Yu Niaoniao remained in her previous posture, limp upon the sleeping mat, gasping heavily for breath.

Yu Yue stroked her chin and circled around Li Luyan and Yu Niaoniao. "Oh-ho-ho, this is getting extraordinary."

Her gaze was full of novelty, as if she were watching a circus performance.

Li Luyan clenched her fists, her face burning as though she had just been slapped.

At that moment, Liu Qingye spoke up, his voice lazy: "This woman wanted to steal Sister's Crystal of Destiny."

Li Luyan cast an appreciative glance at Liu Qingye, wondering what on earth went through Yu Yue's mind every day.

The little bastard transformed into a small nightlight as everyone gathered around to surround Yu Niaoniao, who was now treated like a monkey on display.

Feeling her face burn with heat, she moved her lips before whispering, "I'm sorry." With that, she cast a pleading look toward Yu Yue.

Catching her gaze, Yu Yue's heart instantly softened. She genuinely liked Yu Niaoniao; had it not been for these chaotic times, they surely would have been the best of friends, as she had never met anyone she clicked with so well.

"Sister Yan..."

Before Yu Yue could finish, Li Luyan raised a hand to interrupt her. Without even glancing at Yu Yue, she fixed her piercing gaze squarely on Yu Niaoniao: "Didn't I say I was letting you go? Why do you keep provoking me?"

Li Luyan's tone was chillingly sinister, causing Yu Niaoniao to shudder. As an ordinary person in the apocalypse, she simply wanted a lifeline to survive.

She had overestimated herself and severely underestimated Li Luyan; her petty actions were entirely transparent before Li Luyan.

"I..." She truly didn't know how to argue her way out anymore.

She just wanted to live!

What was wrong with that?

The next second, amidst Yu Yue's astonished gaze, Yu Niaoniao suddenly burst forth with strength, shoved Li Luyan away, and scrambled to her feet to run.

Simultaneously, Li Luyan raised her palm and made a slight pinching motion in the empty air toward Yu Niaoniao's foot.

"Ah!"

Yu Niaoniao let out a miserable scream as her lower leg twisted and deformed, causing her to stagger off balance and crash to the ground.

Her shriek was so piercing that it echoed throughout the empty mall.

Zhang Min was startled awake from her sleep. Looking around, she noticed Yu Niaoniao was missing. "Where is Yu Niaoniao?"

Gao Zheng spread his hands with an indifferent expression. "Our little girl seems to have gone that way," he pointed toward the direction from which the scream had originated.

Zhang Min's pupils constricted. This was a docile vessel she had managed to acquire with great difficulty; she must not come to any harm.

Yet Zhang Min quickly dismissed the thought. Vessels could always be found again, but she only had one life. Yu Niaoniao was now crippled, unable to survive on the road, and incapable of escaping even a single zombie horde.

Furthermore, she had no other bargaining chips left to trade with Li Luyan. Pouring more resources into saving a broken vessel was clearly not worth it.

Having reached this conclusion, Zhang Min glanced one last time in the direction of Yu Niaoniao before turning away without a trace of mercy.