When Qin Yu came out of the tomb, Ling Luo was nowhere to be seen.
"She said she was going to wait for me here, so where is she now?" She grumbled softly as her eyes looked around, searching for Ling Luo's whereabouts.
Suddenly, she heard a voice calling her from above.
"Little Yu, here!"
She turned around, raised her head, and saw Ling Luo sitting leisurely on the top of the Banyan Tree's thick and big root, fiddling with something in her hand.
If this was something like an ecchi rom-com, Qin Yu might have caught a glimpse of panties or another kind of fan service, but unfortunately and disappointingly, it wasn't.
After circling around the tomb's entrance, Qin Yu quickly climbed up to Ling Luo's position.
"What are you doing, Big Sis Luo? Didn't you say you would wait for me at the door?" Qin Yu's voice was filled with a bit of sourness.
"Hehe… Don't get angry. Look, I made this!"
Qin Yu looked down curiously and saw a finely crafted flower crown in Ling Luo's hand. Several flowers in various colours were tied up to each other, forming a complete circle that would fit perfectly on one's head.
"Wow, it's so beautiful!" she gasped in amazement.
"You think this is beautiful?" Ling Luo asked in a playful manner.
Nod. Nod.
Qin Yu had to admit that it was really beautiful. Even if it looked so simple, she might not be able to make it as good as Ling Luo did. She wasn't the type of person who was good with their hands, so she really thought that Ling Luo had done an amazing job with this crown.
But it seemed Ling Luo thought otherwise.
"But it's not perfect yet." Ling Luo shook her head and stared at Qin Yu's eyes then she placed the crown on the top of Qin Yu's hair and declared with a big grin plastered on her face, "This is what you call beautiful."
Qin Yu was caught off guard and couldn't recover for a long time. When she regained her sense, her neck had already turned red up to her ears. She looked so flustered and quickly raised her hand to hide her blushing face.
But before she could do so, Ling Luo caught her hand and said in a sweet voice, "Won't you give Big Sis a smile?"
As if bewitched by the alluring voice, she obediently raised the corner of her mouth.
The effect was off the charts. The combination of Qin Yu's handsome beauty, the gorgeous crown, and the stunning smile struck Ling Luo straight to the core and instantly melted her heart.
The older girl nodded in satisfaction and offered a compliment without even blushing.
"Now, it's perfect!"
Qin Yu rolled her eyes at the older girl. Many words of rebuttal and scolding popped up in Qin Yu's head, but what came from her mouth was a simple and shy "Thank you."
'Geez, so cute!'
Ling Luo didn't reply and simply smiled back at her.
Before Qin Yu could say anything else, Ling Luo abruptly got up and pointed in the distance.
Qin Yu immediately forgot what she was going to say and traced in the direction where Ling Luo's finger pointed and saw a patch of land.
"That's where our farm is going to be." Ling Luo said.
Qin Yu was stunned for a moment when she heard the word "our" but then her heart suddenly filled with a sense of warmth and joy.
That was the place where their journey together began. She wasn't alone anymore.
A genuine smile bloomed on her lips; she nodded in agreement.
"Do you want to go over there now to sightsee?"
"Hmm."
Qin Yu nodded again.
"Okay. But it's quite far, we need to go back to the mansion first."
"Why?"
"You'll know soon. Let's go."
Ling Luo grabbed Qin Yu's hand gently and dragged her back to the path where they came in previously. Qin Yu shook her head helplessly, but her grip tightened.
They climbed down the hill hand in hand.
***
The journey down the hill was slightly smoother and faster than when they first climbed up.
This time, Qin Yu was in the lead and Ling Luo followed from behind.
Out of the blue, a rustling sound came from the surroundings, startling both girls.
The girls searched for the direction of the sound and found a black snake with a yellow strip hanging down from a low branch of the nearest tree, baring its fang and glaring at them with its glowing slit eye.
Hiss—
Qin Yu was slightly taken aback by the appearance of the wild beast, but this wasn't something that she couldn't handle. After all, she had been slaughtering many mutant beasts that were many times more dangerous than this one, and when she was a zombie, she had killed many humans.
This kind of wild animal was only aggressive toward humans because their territories were trespassed upon or they were startled by the presence of humans. There was nothing to be feared as long as they kept their cool and quietly left them alone.
But, while she thought so, the snake suddenly leapt over the branch and pounded at her when she least expected it. Her body wouldn't listen to her, and she was rooted in the ground, frozen. The only reaction she could muster was to raise her hand to cover her face.
Just as she was expecting the pain to come, a gentle and reliable voice blew into her ears.
"It's okay little Yu. I got it handled."
Her voice was always able to soothe Qin Yu's worry and made her feel safe.
Qin Yu put her hands down and slowly opened her eyes and watched the cunning snake struggling in Ling Luo's hand. And then her eyes shifted to the girl who held it, and her gaze became complicated.
It was always Ling Luo who stepped forward to save her.
She was still the weak, old Qin Yu. Her clenched fist opened and closed repeatedly.
She must change.
She wanted to be stronger!
Strong enough that the next time she would be the one to protect Ling Luo.
With the determination in her heart, one of the knots in her heart seemed to be untied, and her expression livened up.
"Wow, I didn't know you were so powerful, Big Sis Luo!"
The younger girl stared at the older girl in awe and suddenly understood why she was so formidable in her past life. Ling Luo had the makings of a heroine!
She thought that Ling Luo would be humble just like the usual protagonist in the story, but she severely underestimated Ling Luo's shamelessness.
"Hehe… why don't you give me a reward?"
"What reward?" Qin Yu asked innocently.
"What about… a kiss? It's fine if it's just in the cheek!"
"You wish!"
Qin Yu rolled her eyes at the Shameless Luo and snorted, but she didn't know it sounded a bit coquettish.
"Aww… stingy," Shameless Luo didn't seem to be remorseful but instead pretended to be pitiful.
Of course, it only made Qin Yu ignore her, so Ling Luo quickly asked, "What do you think we should do to this animal?"
"Just let it go, Big Sis Yu. No one is getting hurt after all," Qin Yu replied.
"Okay~" Ling Luo warmly smiled and turned around, heading to the nearby bushes.
But what Qin Yu didn't know was that after Ling Luo turned her back, the smile on her face disappeared and her expression became extremely cold and indifferent.
The snake that had been struggling all the time suddenly stopped moving and didn't dare to make the slightest movement, but when its eyes met with the captor's eyes, its body suddenly shivered uncontrollably.
It was instantly realized that, for the woman in front of it, it was already a dead animal.
Ling Luo strode leisurely to the nearest tall bushes, crouched down slightly, and stretched the hand holding the snake behind the bush.
"Do you think you can still live after trying to hurt My Qin Yu?"
She suddenly muttered something in a barely audible voice, which could only be heard by her, the snake, and God alone. Of course, she didn't truly care if the snake understood what she said.
But, the snake seemed to understand that death was coming and looked at Ling Luo with eyes pleading for mercy.
And again, Ling Luo didn't care about it.
The only thing she had to do was to protect Qin Yu.
Even if innocent lives were lost in the process, what did it have to do with her?
"Be a good snake in your next life."
Crack—
The snake's skull was crushed in a single pinch, and its lifeless body was quickly thrown around like it was just random garbage.
She then wiped the blood on her hand on the leaves nearby and took out a hand sanitizer from her pocket. With two or three sprays, the putrid smell of blood was momentarily hidden by the smell of lilac.
"Let's go, Little Yu!"
She got up, turned around, and gave Qin Yu the brightest smile she got.