QT: LAC Chapter 132: Eighth World (15)

Chapter 132: Eighth World (15)
Translated by Zombie Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Sulo

Bai Ting didn’t know anything about the conversation they were having with their eyes. Of course, she probably didn’t want to know about it either. She didn’t want to be stuffed with dog food mixed with old vinegar again.

After a moment, she quickly calmed down, and noticed the golden snub-nosed monkey crouching on Bai Duan’s shoulder. She cried out, “Is that… a monkey?!”

“Yeah, my partner,” Bai Duan nodded, he raised his hand and patted the golden snub-nosed monkey’s head. “All our belongings are on it — by the way, we’ve found you something to eat.”

After that, he hinted at the golden snub-nosed monkey to move all the food and water they collected out of the dimensional pocket, then pile them up on the ground. Bai Duan then nodded to the orphans who were staring at the food intensely but didn’t dare to take it. “If you are hungry, take it and eat it. You will have the strength for the journey only if you have a full stomach.”

The orphans looked at each other, then finally looked at Bai Ting. When they saw Bai Ting nodding, they cautiously extended their hands to the food, but each of them showed restraint and took only a little — obviously, the difficulties during the escape in the past months had made these wise orphans understand the value of food.

Seeing that the children had all taken their share of food, Bai Duan also squatted down. He picked out a pack of easy to chew food and handed it to the headmistress, but he totally ignored Bai Ting, who was standing on the side.

Bai Ting was naturally hungry. She hesitated for a moment, then got a package of biscuits and ate them gracefully, but she was displeased at being ignored by Bai Duan.

After pursing her lips, she curiously approached Bai Duan and looked at the golden snub-nosed monkey on his shoulder, “Does this monkey have esper powers too? Amazing! I was wondering why you didn’t bring anything with you.” As she spoke, she raised her hand, as if she wanted to touch the monkey’s beautiful fur, but Bai Duan stopped her.

“It doesn’t like being touched,” Bai Duan frowned and turned away from Bai Ting’s extended hand.

——This was not an excuse to refuse Bai Ting, but a real fact. Ever since being driven out of the military base, the careful monkey had been especially hateful towards humans. When Nie LanLei appeared, then oppressed him in all kinds of ways, this kind of resistance seemed to have become more profound.

As if to affirm Bai Duan’s words, the golden snub-nosed monkey bared his fangs at Bai Ting, it showed a fierce expression and was full of warning in his black eyes.

Bai Ting was startled and hurriedly retracted her hand, but she was not very happy — however, Bai Duan’s next sentence completely dismissed her idea of trying to get close to this monkey that Bai Duan loved. “Animals won’t become zombies, but they can be carriers of the Apocalypse Virus. In case of being scratched and bitten by them, it’s very likely that you will become a zombie — you will know that when you go to the military base.” After dinner, Bai Duan added, “When you eat, don’t touch the animals with your hands. It’s easy to get diseases in through the mouth.”

Bai Duan’s advice was really kind. After all, he didn’t want to see Bai Ting become a
zombie. But the advice in Bai Ting’s ear was more like excluding her from his own world.

Bai Ting knew that Bai Duan loved animals since he was a child and was very popular with animals. However, she did not expect that after the apocalypse, he would still get along with these dangerous animals carrying the Apocalypse Virus without any problem.

——In the eyes of ordinary people, this was totally unreasonable and unimaginable. At least, Bai Ting couldn’t stand having to worry about whether she will be scratched or bitten by animals all day long.

After learning that the animal had the Apocalypse Virus, Bai Ting looked at the golden snub-nosed monkey, and then she couldn’t help but take precautions and repel the animal, which made the golden snub-nosed monkey recall the situation before he was driven out of the base, and his attitude towards Bai Ting was naturally more unfriendly.

The atmosphere between her and the monkey was a bit tense right now, while Nie LanLei was very happy watching them. He even planned to add more gasoline to the fire by letting Bai Ting know the gap between them.

So, the golden snub-nosed monkey, who just bared his fangs and threatened Bai Ting, was grabbed by Nie LanLei and teased. Towards his love rivals, Nie LanLei was always ruthless and so, he gave the monkey’s tail a pull, making the monkey scream angrily, and turn his head to bite Nie LanLei’s hand.

Bai Ting, who was watching this scene, lost her cool and cried out, “Be careful!” Though she didn’t know whether she should worry about this stupid love rival of hers, or to get excited about him being bitten by the monkey.

Unexpectedly, under Bai Ting’s both frightened and excited gaze, the golden snub-nosed monkey who was about to bite Nie LanLei got cold feet at the last moment. It was all bark but no action, it wailed a bit and saved its tail from Nie LanLei’s clutches, and then the monkey got ruffled at the head by Nie LanLei. The monkey only lowered his head pitifully, while holding its head in its arms, but dared not screech angrily.

——Up until now, the monkey king had been abused by the great devil numerous times to know better, it had taught through blood, sweat and tears. He dared not even ask Bai Duan for help anymore, because he had learned from countless bloody and tearful lessons that “You can run, but you can’t hide forever”. Even if it escaped with the aid of Bai Duan this time, the next time, surely more ‘cruel’ revenge would be ushered in by the great devil. It was better to “endure for now, wait for the waves to calm, step back and see the blue sea and sky”.

Bai Ting was shocked to see the golden snub-nosed monkey who had just clawed at her, but was so pitiful in Nie LanLei’s hands, and that didn’t make her feel well.

Just as she couldn’t understand why Bai Duan was still close to animals after the apocalypse, she couldn’t understand how Nie LanLei could be so stupid and unfearful— that’s a dangerous animal that will turn you into a zombie if it bites you or if you touch it! No matter how well Bai Duan trained it, it was still a wild and irrational animal. How dare Nie LanLei bully it like that? Was he not afraid that once the monkey got upset, it might really bite him back!

Was it possible that… Bai Duan, like this Nie LanLei who did nothing but drag him down, was stupid and didn’t know what fear was? Because he could ‘play’ with the animals and ‘get along with them harmoniously’?

Looking at Nie LanLei, who was having a ‘blast’ with the golden snub-nosed monkey, and looking at Bai Duan, who was obviously used to this scene, Bai Ting only felt that her desire for Bai Duan suddenly faded a lot.

She didn’t have deep feelings for Bai Duan. Except for Bai Duan thanking her and erasing her guilt, there was nothing worth mentioning, all she really wanted was to find someone she could trust. Her butterflying heart was only caused by a short impulse, and the yearning for long-term protection was Bai Ting’s main concern.

However, Bai Ting hesitated when she realized that she needed to accept animals carrying the Apocalypse Virus if she was with Bai Duan. She couldn’t be as fearless as Nie LanLei, being completely oblivious to the potential threats of the animals — moments like these, days of being fearful of infection by the Apocalypse Virus due to animals was not her ideal life.

But, on one hand, while she was afraid of animals, on the other hand, she was eager for Bai Duan. Bai Ting fell asleep with a complex and tangled mood, and didn’t get a clear answer even after the next morning. However, no matter what Bai Ting thought, after eating breakfast, they still embarked on the journey to the military base as planned.

After two full meals and a good night’s rest, the children who finally got to step out of the basement and finally saw the light, all looked very happy. Even the spirit of headmistress Bai was much better. Her spine which stooped due to fatigue and despair straightened a bit again.

Despite her age, headmistress Bai’s body was still strong. After her son died in a car accident, she had a serious illness. Later, when the orphanage was set up, she paid special attention to her own physical condition, for fear that if she fell ill, these children would lose their home.

Supported by Nie LanLei, headmistress Bai walked in the middle of the group, while the children were surrounding the two in the middle. Bai Duan and Bai Ting stood at the front and back respectively, one led the way, while the other protected the rear from zombies.

As many people were looking, Bai Duan and Nie LanLei didn’t use the mental barrier to drive zombies away, instead they chose routes with greenery, enhancing the usefulness of Bai Duan’s powers to a large extent.

Of course, although Nie LanLei was still the ‘weak flower’ that was ‘protected’ in the middle of the group, he didn’t just walk idly. His mental strength was so much stronger than Bai Duan’s that he could expand it and cover a radius of hundreds of meters. In this range, he could clearly feel the numbers and distribution of zombies, and even repel zombies to a certain extent. He kept the number of zombies to a point that ensured Bai Duan could handle, but not come off as suspicious. With Nie LanLei, the cheating device in the midst, there was no danger at all along the way. As they were getting closer and closer to the military base, the mood of the group was becoming more and more relaxed and positive. The children even had smiles on their faces. They are no longer face to face with danger, nor were they nervous and facing opponents.

Of course, there were some people who were not so happy in this relaxed atmosphere. There is no doubt that said person was Bai Ting.

Although Bai Ting shied away from Bai Duan because of the animals, she was not willing to give up. However, some things couldn’t be changed by her will alone. Even though Bai Ting wanted to get closer to Bai Duan and constantly worked hard for it, the result was ‘a sore sight’.

During the day, Bai Ting and Bai Duan were separated, one in front and one at the rear, and there were nearly ten people between them — including Nie LanLei — so she could not find any chance to exchange feelings and talk with Bai Duan at all.

During breaks, Nie LanLei and Bai Duan were almost inseparable. Whenever there was a minute of free time, they could be seen being intimate and giving everyone around them a handful of dog food. Even the children knew of their relationship.

At the beginning, the children called Bai Duan and Nie LanLei ‘brother’. Today, Bai Duan was still ‘brother’, but Nie LanLei had become ‘brother-in-law’ — and this shameless guy even smiled! There’s nothing to be ashamed of!

When Bai Ting first heard the name from the children, she almost collapsed, but she was in no position to stop it.

In rare moments, Bai Duan and Nie LanLei would be separated temporarily, but that didn’t mean Bai Ting could take advantage of the situation. Because the golden snub-nosed monkey was even more sticky to Bai Duan than Nie LanLei was. As soon as Bai Ting got close, he would squat on Bai Duan’s shoulder and stare at her, as if he would jump on her in the next second. Bai Ting was scared, she was so frightened that she had to focus most of her attention on Bai Duan’s face instead. How could she still have the spare time to think about hooking up?

As for headmistress Bai, it seemed that she also knew her thoughts about Bai Duan. When seeing Bai Ting’s intention of trying to get close to him, she would always call her to her side for various reasons, leaving her with no time to flirt.

It has to be said that Bai Ting was still respectful to headmistress Bai, otherwise it would have been impossible for her to protect the headmistress and the orphans for such a long time. As long as it was within the scope of her ability, Bai Ting would not refuse the headmistress. Moreover, Bai Duan also cared about the headmistress, so she was more unlikely to disobey her in front of her ‘sweetheart’.

In this way, under the pressure of several sides, Bai Ting and Bai Duan had been together for more than ten days, but the number of conversations they had was very scarce, they didn’t even talk as much as they did on the first day of encounter. It really made Bai Ting almost want to vomit and bleed!

For the first time since the apocalypse, Bai Ting wished that the military base they were heading to was as far away as possible. However, when they got closer to the Southern military base, they began moving faster and faster, and then they drove the car towards there directly. In order to prepare for the future, the military base had begun to gradually dredge the main roads, so that the survivors could drive to farther places to collect materials.

Bai Duan drove the military off-road Jeep that was previously stored by the golden snub-nosed monkey, followed behind was the abandoned ownerless vehicle they picked up on the road — it was driven by Bai Ting.

God knows, Bai Ting regretted getting her driver’s license so early after getting into university, because Nie LanLei proudly said that he was not 18 years old yet and couldn’t drive at all.

Only Bai Duan knew how fast Nie LanLei drives, “…………”

The military cross-country Jeep had obviously been modified by the military, and so it bore a very different appearance. When it drove near the military base, it stood out a lot.

Soon, another Jeep of the same model approached them. The driver thought he saw his colleague, slowed down and lowered the window to say hello. But he saw who the driver was, and then he was stunned and stepped on the brakes, “You are… Bai Duan?!”

Bai Duan also noticed that he was an acquaintance of his. He stopped the car and nodded to him.