Chrysalis

Chapter 54: The little Follower

Translator: Law Editor: Hitesh_

After reading her note, Xie Dong stopped feeling confused. He glanced at Wu Yueling, who was standing on the grassland at a distance, staring at him and Lin Qiao with the little rabbit held in her arms.

In the next instant, he turned and walked toward the small space.

Lin Qiao spent a moment sensing the situation outside. She saw the level-five zombie circling the highway where the two disappeared from, not seeming to give up. So, she planned to not go out for the time being.

Having understood the situation, she walked toward Wu Yueling.

Since no one knew when, the little rabbit had become quite close with Wu Yueling. However, it was only willing to come near her, and would leap away once Lin Qiao approached.

…Like right now.

Wu Yueling watched the rabbit jump away, not seeming to mind that. She was shy and really quiet. She had been staying in Lin Qiao’s space so quietly all the time, without crying or screaming.

She didn’t even ask Lin Qiao to let her out.

She was terrified of Lin Qiao at first, but not anymore. She was actually staying quite comfortably in this place by now.

‘Doesn’t she miss her dad?’ Lin Qiao wondered, ‘I heard her calling her dad in her mind quite a lot at first.’

Lin Qiao felt that this kid did have a big heart, and wondered if she worried that she might not be able to see her dad ever again, as she didn’t look anxious at all. The other kids would have wanted to go out to find their families long ago if they were in the same situation.

Seeing Lin Qiao walk over, Wu Yueling stared at her with her big watery eyes, looking very adorable. Her eyes were black and round, and her cheeks were pinky and chubby.

Lin Qiao walked to her, saw that she had finished all the strawberries in the bowl. So, she picked up the bowl and turned to walk toward the strawberry field. After making two steps forward, she felt that the little one was following her.

She turned back to glance at the little one, then continued walking forward without saying anything.

After walking into the strawberry field, she checked all the plants which had been growing healthily for ripe strawberries. She had picked almost all the ripe fruits these days, but many strawberries left on the plants were almost ripe.

The little one didn’t eat much, and these strawberries were large. So, two or three strawberries could fill her stomach.

Lin Qiao felt that the child needed to eat something other than strawberries as well. She had finished the cookies which were found in the small space earlier, but she hadn’t eaten the instant noodles. That was because Xie Dong hadn’t regained the control of his power yet.

He would either boil the water dry suddenly, or fail to boil it at all. One time, he almost burned a hole in the bottom of a pot which was brought in by Lin Qiao.

Lin Qiao wondered if she could find some mice or other animals in this mountain area. She decided to try finding some when she got out the next time, so that the little one’s diet could be improved.

But before that, she needed to create fire. She had no lighter in her space. Xie Dong didn’t have a lighter either, because he had been using his own fingers as matches. He used to be a giant lighter himself.

When Lin Qiao was picking strawberries, Wu Yueling followed behind her without doing anything else. Lin Qiao couldn’t sense her thoughts or read her mind, so she had completely no idea what this kid was thinking about.

Lin Qiao picked seven or eight strawberries to fill the bowl, then brought them to the lakeside to wash them. Wu Yueling followed her to the lakeside and silently watched her wash the strawberries, then took over the bowl from her hands.

After handing the strawberries to the kid, Lin Qiao turned and prepared to water the strawberry plants. When she came back to the lakeside with a bucket, she found that Wu Yueling was still following behind her silently.

She stopped and looked at Wu Yueling, who was looking at her as well, her bright eyes widely opened.

Lin Qiao found no emotion from the child’s eyes, and couldn’t sense her thoughts either, so she didn’t know what the kid wanted.

Therefore, she turned around to continue fetching water while Wu Yueling following behind her. When she got back to water the strawberry plants, Wu Yueling still followed her. After that, she again went to the lakeside to fetch more water, and Wu Yueling was still following her. She moved between the lakeside and the strawberry field many times, and the child followed her the whole while.

Seeing this, Lin Qiao felt speechless.

Having finished watering the strawberry plants, she turned around and lowered her head to look at Wu Yueling. The latter kept her head raised, staring at Lin Qiao with an adorable look.

‘What on earth is this kid thinking? Why can’t I read anything from her eyes or sense any thoughts from her mind?’ She wondered.

She was almost driven crazy, and hoped that someone could come to save her. She didn’t know how to communicate with an introverted kid!

‘What’s wrong?’ Lin Qiao asked the kid with her eyes.

However, the latter calmly looked at her without answering the question or making any response in her mind.

‘Why are you following me? Do you need me to do something? Or do you want to tell me anything?’ Lin Qiao tried to ask again by using sign language.

Still, Wu Yueling made no response but kept staring at her.

After she tried a few times, the little one remained silent and kept gazing at her without saying even one word. She didn’t’ hear anything from the child’s mind either.

‘There’s no way of communication. As people said, autistic children rarely let the others know about their thoughts. So, what should I do now? Why has she been tailing me? What does she want?’ Lin Qiao just didn’t know the answer.

The two of them silently gazed at each other for a couple of seconds. When Lin Qiao scratched her head and was prepared to give up, Wu Yueling finally made a move.

Before Lin Qiao turned around, she reached out her little hand and dragged Lin Qiao’s pants. Lin Qiao had found this pair of loose-fitting pants from the abandoned house near the strawberry field outside, and she needed to roll up the bottoms of the pant legs so that she wouldn’t step on them and fall.

Lin Qiao stopped after Wu Yueling pulled her pants, looking at the child with confusion. Next, she saw the kid pull her own clothes. Although her little face still showed no expression, a clear dislike was detected from her eyes by Lin Qiao.

‘I need to change clothes! These are dirty!’ Lin Qiao heard her saying in her mind.

‘Alright! You can just tell me that! I wouldn’t know what you want if you just silently follow me everywhere!’ Lin Qiao thought.

Thinking that the little one’s clothes were dirty, Lin Qiao also realized that the kid hadn’t showered for many days, so her body should be dirty as well. She must have felt uncomfortable, but didn’t know how to describe it; so, she told Lin Qiao that her clothes were dirty.

Lin Qiao didn’t expect this kid to be a neat freak. Most of the other kids wouldn’t mind that!

Since the kid wanted to change clothes, Lin Qiao decided to give her a bath first, and then let her wear some of those adult clothes which had been washed earlier. Wearing those adult clothes was convenient for her, as a top would become a little dress on her. How simple was that!

Lin Qiao also planned to wash those clothes which were ripped off those robbers, so that she could wear them herself after drying.

With that, she jumped into action once organizing these thoughts. She led Wu Yueling to the lakeside and told her to stay put while she went to find a cotton top and a tattered coat herself. After returning to the lakeside, she put these clothes on the clean ground.

She then squatted before Wu Yueling and looked at her while saying in her mind, ‘I’ll also give you a bath. Don’t move.’

Meanwhile, she unbuttoned Wu Yueling’s top with both hands. Wu Yueling didn’t know what was going on, but she stood still to cooperate with Lin Qiao’s moves.