Chapter 248 - 220: Opportunity Always Comes with a Challenge

Chapter 248: Chapter 220: Opportunity Always Comes with a Challenge

The little girl found solace in the warm, safe embrace, resting her head on Ye Qingniao’s shoulder. Her sobs finally subsided into soft whimpers.

"I... I’m Yiyi. Daddy... Daddy never came back," she said softly, her voice trembling. "Mommy... Mommy is in that house over there..."

As she spoke, she pointed to a spot on the right side of the road. But the moment she turned her head, it was as if she remembered something terrifying. She suddenly struggled out of Ye Qingniao’s arms, squatted on the ground, and clutched her head, bursting into tears.

"Mommy... There are bad people in there... and monsters... and some other adults... Mommy is in there too... Save my mommy..."

She sobbed, her words coming out in fits and starts.

"Then how did you get here, Yiyi...?"

Lin Fan picked up on a key piece of information. His brow furrowed as he asked in a low voice.

"..."

The little girl’s gaze was extremely wary as she looked at Lin Fan. She shrank back into Ye Qingniao’s arms and refused to say a word.

"...You do it."

Lin Fan sighed in resignation and shot Ye Qingniao a look.

"So, Yiyi, how did you get here...?"

Ye Qingniao gave Lin Fan a small smile before repeating the question to the little girl in her arms.

"I... I don’t know..."

As the little girl tried to recall the event, she frowned as if she had amnesia.

"They grabbed me... and I... I ended up here..."

But she suddenly remembered her purpose. Her large eyes looked up at Ye Qingniao as she clutched the corner of her clothes and pleaded,

"Miss Soldier, please save my mommy... Please..."

After listening to their conversation, Lin Fan, though unsure if the girl was telling the truth or what had really happened, understood that they had just triggered some kind of "side quest."

He jerked his head, signaling for Ye Qingniao to get the little girl settled first.

"Okay, I’ll put her in the armored vehicle, and then we can go together..."

Ye Qingniao said matter-of-factly as she picked up the little girl.

"No."

Lin Fan jutted his chin to the side.

"Huh? Why...? Alright."

A flicker of confusion crossed Ye Qingniao’s eyes, but the tacit understanding she’d built with Lin Fan from fighting alongside him was still there. If Lin Fan said so, he must have his reasons.

She walked a few steps, reached for the handle of an electric car parked on the roadside, and with a flash of electricity, the entire vehicle unlocked.

"Yiyi, we’re going to go save your mommy now. You be a good girl and stay right here, okay...?"

Ye Qingniao opened the car door, pulled a stuffed animal from the back seat, and gave it a little shake before handing it to the girl. She then placed the child in the back seat and pulled a few pieces of candy and chocolate from her pocket for her.

"Okay... mhm..."

The little girl took the candy and nodded obediently.

Ye Qingniao closed the car door, activated her ability, and locked the entire vehicle again.

She then pulled Lin Fan over to the driver’s side of the armored vehicle, out of the little girl’s line of sight.

"Is there something wrong with the girl?"

Ye Qingniao asked Lin Fan doubtfully. She peeked out and glanced at the electric car, where the little girl was quietly leaning against the window, looking outside. She then added,

"She seems pretty normal to me..."

Lin Fan heard this and threw up his hands. "She seems pretty normal to me, too..."

"Then why did you..."

"You can’t be too careful..."

"You’re even wary of a little girl like her?"

"She’s an Awakened One. You know as well as I do that their abilities are all over the place. What if some old fox has the ability to turn into a little girl...?"

’I remember her health bar,’ Lin Fan thought, recalling what he’d seen. ’Her health was low, but her Energy Value hadn’t moved. If, like I said, someone’s ability was to turn into a little girl, their Energy Value should be constantly draining while the ability is active.’

’Unless someone’s ability could deceive my eyes and create a fake health bar... That would be even more terrifying. But based on everything I know, that’s impossible.’

He could accept not being able to see a health bar, but he couldn’t accept one being faked.

"Damn, now that you mention it, I was just holding her. I suddenly feel... gross..."

Ye Qingniao, taking him seriously, shivered and spoke.

"It’s probably not that. That was just an example..."

Lin Fan reached out, playfully ruffled her hair, and nudged her aside.

"I’m just saying, you can’t be too careful."

"So what now?"

Ye Qingniao nodded, her large eyes turning to Lin Fan.

"Do you think she was telling the truth?"

"It doesn’t seem like an act."

Lin Fan rubbed his chin, then posed a question to both Ye Qingniao and Cheng Qi, who had been leaning against the crack in the window, unable to get a word in.

"In a situation like this, could you guys just leave the little girl here and drive off?"

"I couldn’t... but I’m no expert..."

Cheng Qi replied from the driver’s seat, speaking through the gap in the window.

"If it were Zhang and Jiang... sigh, they’re the experts when it comes to rescuing hostages."

"I agree... sigh, I don’t know either..."

On one hand, Ye Qingniao was anxious to find Ye Qingzhou’s convoy or meet up at the quarantine zone as soon as possible. On the other, as she looked at the little girl sitting quietly in the car, she felt she couldn’t just abandon her.

"Alright, how about this: I’ll go check it out myself. You get in the vehicle, and don’t turn off the engine..."

Seeing their reactions, Lin Fan knew he couldn’t just ignore this either. Besides, the little girl had mentioned something that currently interested him the most...

She had said there were monsters inside, and bad people.

’Bad people are everywhere,’ he thought. ’But monsters that can peacefully coexist with bad people? Now that’s not something you find everywhere.’

Back in the residential complex, he had only fought a few types of Mutated Zombies. Who knew if that was related to the soil or the "tree"? This place was so far from home; maybe there would be new kinds of monsters.

After all, "Jiang Jing" had dropped six "Regeneration Crystals" he had never seen before.

Besides, what was a crisis for others—mutated monsters—was an opportunity for him. And he never let an opportunity pass him by...

"Same as always: if you run into a problem you can’t handle, don’t wait for me. Just run. You need to learn from your sister..."

Lin Fan thought for a moment in silence, then decided to go scout things out. He turned to Ye Qingniao and laid out his instructions,

"Cyan Bird, you know me. If I’m by myself, no one on heaven or earth can hold me back."

"That’s true. You’re impossibly cunning," Ye Qingniao said, surprisingly not arguing with him. She nodded. "I trust you."

"And again, watch out for ambushes and don’t let your guard down. That little girl is an Awakened One. A bit of hunger, thirst, cold, or stuffiness won’t kill her in the short term. Don’t go near her until I get back..."

Still worried, Lin Fan warned her again.

After all, a normal person posed no threat to a 700-HP super-human like Ye Qingniao. But an Awakened One with a strange ability was a different story, even if they were a three-foot-tall little girl.

"Take this sword... You have to give it back when you return."

Ye Qingniao obediently climbed back into the armored vehicle and passed Lin Fan’s single-edged sword out through the firing port.

"You can borrow it. If you run into zombies, it’s better not to shoot. I’m not used to the sword anyway."

Lin Fan waved her off, then pulled four vials from his pocket and handed them to Ye Qingniao—two Strength and two Activity.

After explaining the precautions, Lin Fan finally felt at ease enough to leave the armored vehicle. He walked over to the car window and peered inside.

The little girl was also at the window. When she saw Lin Fan, she recoiled in panic and hid in the gap between the seats.

[22/120] [120/120]...

’Her Life Value hasn’t changed, and neither has her Energy Value.’

With that confirmed, he summoned his spear, turned into a small alley on the right, and equipped his Stealth Crystal—which, like his Armor Crystal, was already at 40% synthesis. He then headed in the direction the little girl had pointed.

Back in the armored vehicle, Ye Qingniao and Cheng Qi watched through the observation port as Lin Fan disappeared into the alley. They then locked all the hatches from the inside.

Cheng Qi rummaged through a storage bin in the vehicle, found some gun oil and tools, and began maintaining the two scavenged rifles and the pistol to prevent them from jamming when needed.

The CLICK, CLACK of the bolts being pulled and the faint scraping of metal parts against each other sounded muffled yet methodical in the cramped cabin.

Meanwhile, Ye Qingniao was holding three large bags of food they had taken from the hotel, silently stuffing her face to quickly recover her spent energy.

The longsword and Cheng Qi’s original large-caliber pistol were placed on either side of her, ready for any unexpected trouble.