She shrank her arm back a little, looking a bit intimidated.
She realized she had never been alone with Mo Chen before.
Even though she had hoped to stay close to Mo Chen for her own safety, so that if danger arose, his intervention might save her life.
Today, Mo Chen had come to the terrace to pick her up.
This stirred up a great many emotions within her.
She had misunderstood Mo Chen before! She had thought him calm, indifferent.
But she never expected that once someone became a member of his team, he would protect them to this extent!
He was definitely a warm, sunny, responsible, and helpful comrade!
Mo Chen had been standing still, trying his best to maintain his composure.
But then he saw Luo Xiao Le next to him staring at him with an expression of awe, like looking at a doting father.
His composure shattered.
What did it mean for her to look at him like a parent!
This was not what he wanted!
"Thank you, Mo Chen!" Luo Xiao Le suddenly grabbed his sleeve.
Then, in a gesture like that of revolutionary comrades, she warmly shook his hand through his sleeve.
"If you hadn't stepped in today, I might have been trapped on that terrace forever."
Luo Xiao Le's eyes were filled with sincerity and affirmation for her comrade.
Mo Chen felt a burning sensation in his heart.
"No... thank you..." Mo Chen gritted his teeth slightly.
Looking at Mo Chen's tall, sharp nose and deep eyes, outlined in an exceptionally beautiful shape under the moonlight.
Luo Xiao Le suddenly thought again, someone with Mo Chen's looks and demeanor must have been pampered since childhood.
He looked like the type of person who wouldn't need to learn martial arts for self-defense.
Then where did his combat skills come from?
She mumbled to herself, unaware that Mo Chen could hear every word.
"I was abandoned in a small mountain village when I was little," Mo Chen said, his eyes lowered, devoid of any light, deeper than the night itself.
Luo Xiao Le's eyes widened. How could he say something so shocking so casually?
Was this something he could just tell her?
Mo Chen suddenly gave a self-deprecating smile. "The memories aren't very pleasant."
"Anyway, I stumbled upon a master and learned a few things.
I never expected them to be useful now."
Though Mo Chen revealed little, Luo Xiao Le felt a profound loneliness in his few words.
Not the loneliness of being without company.
It was more like a loneliness of finding no hope in this world, a feeling of being isolated from everything.
Luo Xiao Le felt she was never good at comforting people.
After all, her own life hadn't been much better.
Every day, as soon as she opened her eyes, her aunt would drag her off to cook and do chores, and in the bitter winter, she'd be washing clothes alone.
Besides chores, it was all studying; there was no room for entertainment.
Her life was simple, yet numb.
Now she could sense others' emotions, but her attitude towards life had always been one of endurance.
She couldn't possibly tell Mo Chen, "Life is hard, just endure it," could she?
Seeing Luo Xiao Le suddenly fall silent, her eyes revealing surprise and conflict.
Mo Chen's gaze darkened slightly. Perhaps this wasn't the right time to tell her these things.
Had he been too heavy-handed, putting too much psychological pressure on her?
He hadn't even told her that he had known her for a long time.
He would tell her next time.
Luo Xiao Le wrestled with her thoughts for a long moment.
Then she suddenly turned her head, her eyes sparkling, and said with utmost sincerity, "Look, no matter where you grew up, you've taken it one step at a time to become who you are now!"
"You are amazing now! Your efforts were not in vain."
Mo Chen was suddenly struck by her words, and a flicker of light seemed to flash in his eyes.
It felt as if all his unspoken past, all his struggles in the mire, had, unknowingly, been affirmed.
The corner of his mouth curved slightly, and he glanced at Luo Xiao Le. "Has anyone ever told you."
Luo Xiao Le was playing with a brick on the ground. "Told me what?"
"That you're actually quite good at comforting people."
Mo Chen had never felt an hour pass so quickly.
Luo Xiao Le, not having rested well, was extremely sleepy.
Right on time, like a worker unwilling to work overtime, she woke up the next shift and handed over her duties as scheduled.
Then she went back to sleep.
...
The next day, from the moment Luo Xiao Le woke up, she couldn't stop rubbing her moon-white ring.
The system was still there, but the indicator for the other ring seemed to have been silent for a long time.
Her brows furrowed with worry. Had something happened to the other person, or was her indicator broken?
She ate her breakfast absentmindedly.
After a while, she carefully observed the gymnasium and suddenly spotted a small window that seemed to offer a view outside.
She quickly walked to the wall with the small window.
She cautiously felt the area. Good, no traps triggered.
Only then did she cautiously approach the window and peer outside.
She was shocked by what she saw.
The zombies outside the sports field had not decreased; instead, they had doubled!
This was impossible!
If zombies can't find prey, they usually disperse and wander elsewhere.
Typically, the number of zombies staying in one place should decrease over time.
She narrowed her eyes, feeling that the movement of the zombie horde was strange.
This time, she suddenly realized that all the newly arrived zombies were pouring in from the main school gate!
Just like when they had been chased into the school, the zombie horde's direction of movement was the same!
At the same time, she noticed that a teaching building across the way looked rather peculiar.
She shared these discoveries with the people in her team.
"If the zombies are moving like this..." Luo Shu said, with a very serious expression, resting her chin on her hand as she analyzed.
"Are they being controlled? Damn it!"
"Or..." Luo Xiao Le added, "either something is chasing them from behind, or... they are being attracted by something ahead."
Everyone gasped.
Any of these three hypotheses was enough to send a chill down their spines.
"This is terrifying! What do we do? Should we leave now? We can't just stay here forever!" Zhou Xiao Jun wished he could jump up and leave immediately.
"It's not time yet," Luo Xiao Le shook her head.
She hadn't leveled up yet, couldn't craft defensive items, and the zombie horde outside was too terrifying. Leaving now would be suicide.
"Brother, look at the zombies outside," Luo Shu came over and patted Zhou Xiao Jun's shoulder. "With your scrawny body, you wouldn't even be enough to fill their teeth."
"Don't worry, let's observe more and find a way," even Mo Chen spoke up.
"Sigh..." For a moment, everyone looked despondent, sighing one after another.
Being surrounded by zombies was truly an unpleasant experience.
Xu Ling Yan, in the corner, felt increasingly uneasy. How could they still listen to this matchstick's advice when she was always in danger herself?
Why should they!
Luo Xiao Le sensed a sinister gaze from the corner.
She looked at Xu Ling Yan and saw her staring at her with fierce dissatisfaction.
Feeling somewhat exasperated, she turned her head away. Who had she offended?
"Oh, Luo Shu," Luo Xiao Le remembered another detail, "I saw a building just now that looked like a pentagon, quite a unique design. Where is that?"
"Oh, that's the 'Yang Tao Building,' specially designed by an architect invited by our school. It's not far from here."
Luo Xiao Le felt that the shape looked familiar.
"Can you roughly sketch its shape? A floor plan, perhaps?"
Luo Shu picked up a pen and drew a five-pointed star.
Luo Xiao Le's DNA seemed to stir...
She knew that shape looked familiar.
It was the location indicated by the map on her ring from the convenience store last time!
This meant that Qin Ming Yang and the others were currently in the building opposite them?
It was truly a case of searching high and low.
"By the way, has anyone seen Li Wen today?" someone in the team suddenly asked, puzzled.
Li Wen from the convenience store?
Everyone shook their heads, indicating they hadn't seen him since this morning.