Hurried footsteps echoed from the stairs.
Le Rui, who was carrying dishes, looked over in confusion, only to see Sister Su Su rushing down hastily, her expression as if something major had happened.
“Sister Su Su, what’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing.”
Su Su glanced around without much hope. As expected, she didn’t see that familiar figure in the hall.
Without stopping, she headed straight for the exit.
Le Rui followed behind her, worried. “Sister Su Su, it’s raining outside, and dinner is ready. Are you going out now?”
“Mm, Xiao Hei is missing. I’m going out to look for it.”
Su Su grabbed an umbrella by the door and disappeared into the rain in an instant.
Le Rui stared at her departing figure, feeling a little down as he returned to the hall.
At the dining table, Pang Cancan had already pulled out a chair and was inhaling the aroma of the food with an intoxicated expression. “Granny! Your cooking is amazing! I could eat five bowls of rice tonight!”
Among their group, the best cooks were actually Wei Yan and Guan Zixuan. Before Su Su returned, she and Le Rui would always sneak into their team to grab a meal.
Now that Granny Niu had joined them, they finally had a family member with decent cooking skills!
In the kitchen, Granny Niu was still frying the last dish of stir-fried greens.
Before He Heng’s men entered the urban village, Wei Yan’s people had already sent her to a safe place.
Now that the base had changed hands and their great enemy had been avenged, with a group of lively young people surrounding her, the smile on Granny Niu’s face had unknowingly become more frequent.
“Where’s Su Su? Call her and Xiao Hei down for dinner.”
Le Rui slumped onto the table, sulking. “Sister Su Su went out to find Xiao Hei.”
“Xiao Hei is missing again?” Pang Cancan paused in surprise, chopsticks in midair. “It’s so late. Where could it have gone?”
“No idea.”
“Forget it then. Just save some food for Sister Su Su and Xiao Hei.”
Having experienced similar situations before, Pang Cancan remained calm and composed.
Only Le Rui was still feeling down, eating listlessly.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“……”
Le Rui was still young. No matter how much he tried to act mature and grown-up, he couldn’t hide his inner longing at this moment.
“Sister Su Su and Xiao Hei have such a good relationship.”
After his grandfather passed away, the first person he saw was Sister Su Su.
She was also the one who brought him a bowl of noodles with an egg and risked her life to break down the door and save him in the most dangerous moment.
Le Rui had always longed to be close to Sister Su Su.
He had lived with his grandfather since he was little and had never felt a woman’s affection. Though Sister Su Su was young, she treated him very well—so well that he wished he could get just a little closer to her.
But… the one Sister Su Su was closest to was Xiao Hei. Most of her thoughts and energy were devoted to it.
Now that Xiao Hei was missing, she didn’t even care about eating and rushed out into the rain to look for it.
If it weren’t for Xiao Hei… without Xiao Hei, they would have died in the stadium…
Le Rui bit his lip in frustration, ashamed and uneasy about the thoughts he was having.
“Kid, don’t overthink it!” Pang Cancan saw through Le Rui’s thoughts and roughly ruffled his hair. “Sister Su Su really cares about Xiao Hei. Forget you, even I sometimes feel jealous!”
But Xiao Hei was, after all, the first companion to follow Sister Su Su. It was perfectly normal for their relationship to be strong.
However… the number of times they had conflicts was just too many.
Pang Cancan had personally witnessed the arguments between Xiao Hei and Sister Su Su. Thinking back to how Brother Wei had almost confessed his feelings earlier… could it be that Xiao Hei was angry because of that again?
That… that would be a little…
Pang Cancan suddenly stopped mid-bite.
At that moment, a flood of details rushed into her mind—such as Xiao Hei’s abnormally strong possessiveness, its hostility towards Wei Yan and Guan Zixuan.
And that time when she had accidentally barged into Sister Su Su’s room and saw Xiao Hei, while Sister Su Su was fast asleep, stealthily flicking its tongue to lick the corner of her lips.
When it heard the door open, those vertical pupils had turned to fixate on her with an icy gaze…
Pang Cancan forcefully shook these bizarre thoughts from her head.
“I must be overthinking, I must be overthinking!”
“Just eat, eat!”
At ten o’clock in the evening, under the continuous downpour, Su Su was aimlessly yet anxiously searching everywhere.
Near the villa.
Near Wei Yan and the others’ villa.
By the vendor stalls she often visited, including the mission hall she had only been to once… she had checked all these places but found no trace of the black snake.
Unlike last time, this conflict had started because of her.
Su Su was already feeling guilty, and now she was even more anxious.
Where on earth had Xiao Hei gone? With this never-ending rain, even if it curled up in some corner, it would still be battered by the wind and rain.
Her steps became increasingly agitated and restless.
The rain poured down harder and harder, pounding against her umbrella with loud splashes. Almost no one remained outside in the entire base.
In the middle of the silent streets, only a young woman was still wandering around, searching every nook and cranny—even stopping to dig through flower beds just in case.
Perhaps it was the growing frustration in her heart, but she could no longer hold it in.
She shouted into the empty corner.
“Xiao Hei!”
Where are you?
Was it really so angry just because she wanted them to live separately?
But… but if they didn’t start living apart, she truly didn’t know where this supposedly pure companionship was heading…
Clearly… clearly, Xiao Hei was just a snake. She had always regarded it as a companion with human-like intelligence and independent thought, yet she had never truly considered what kind of chemical reaction could occur between different species.
Was that her fault?
Su Su was more confused than ever before.
On one hand, she felt something was wrong. On the other… deep down, she desperately wished she had misunderstood Xiao Hei’s intentions—that it was just overly possessive, like some clingy cats or dogs that also had a strong sense of ownership and wanted to be overly close to their caretakers.
“Xiao Hei!!”
Her call was weakened by the curtain of rain. The water splashing up from the cement pavement had already soaked most of her pant legs.
Even her fair and delicate face was speckled with droplets that had been carried by the wind.
Zzzzt—
Suddenly, the radio at her waist crackled to life. It was a relic left behind by He Heng, now repurposed as a communication device for the team.
A slightly distorted voice came through—it was Wei Yan.
“Su Su, come to the eastern hunting zone.”
Su Su’s heart clenched. “Is there another zombie horde besieging the base?”
“There is, but…” A two-second pause, then, “Xiao Hei suddenly appeared here. You better come see for yourself.”
Xiao Hei appeared in the eastern hunting zone?
Su Su froze for a moment, then quickly turned back to the villa. She didn’t even bother changing her soaked clothes, jumping into an off-road vehicle and speeding straight to the hunting zone entrance.
“Roar!!!”
A dense tide of zombies was packed outside the iron fence, but most of them were low-level and posed no real threat. The ability users stationed here usually handled such situations with ease, only alerting the entire base when necessary.
Wei Yan saw Su Su’s vehicle and rushed down from the watchtower, disregarding the fact that she had only hours ago politely turned him down. Without hesitation, he said, “Come with me.”
The two of them ascended to Watchtower No. 10, located at the very center.
The watchtower was a semi-open structure, and the ability users on duty were clad in raincoats. However, none of them were currently engaged in battle. Instead, they all stood there, dumbfounded, staring past the iron fence.
Wei Yan pointed towards the zombie horde. “Look.”
Su Su followed the direction of his finger.
The torrential rain obscured her vision, but she could just barely make out—amidst the zombie horde, beyond the iron fence—a massive python thrashing about wildly in the downpour, letting out shrill hisses.
Countless zombies, drawn by the scent of flesh and blood, lunged at it, only to be smashed into pulp by its powerful tail.
The giant python did not breathe its signature blue flames. Instead, it was relying purely on brute force, crushing zombie after zombie.
With its sheer strength alone, it had carved out a vacuum zone around itself.
“Hiss!!!”
Su Su stared at it in a daze.
Its rage and frustration were being completely unleashed upon the zombie horde.
Those dark green vertical pupils were filled with ferocity—had it not been standing on the side of the humans, it might have already become the source of unimaginable terror for the base.
No, there was already panic!
An ability user standing nearby swallowed nervously and stammered, “It-it’s so fierce…”
Fierce to such an extent that it didn’t even seem like it was stopping the zombie horde—it was purely venting.
Every time its massive body rolled, the ground trembled. Those standing on the watchtower turned pale, their hands gripping the railing tightly.
Wei Yan took a deep breath. “Su Su, call it back immediately. If this goes on…”
If this continued, it would frighten even more people.
Su Su understood this as well.
It was best for Xiao Hei to maintain a more docile image within the base; only then would people not grow fearful of it.
“Xiao Hei!” She leaned over the railing, Wei Yan holding an umbrella over her head. “Come back!”
The rain pounded against the ground, easily drowning out her voice.
She shouted several times, straining her throat, but her words were still pitifully weak against the storm.
Yet, the rampaging giant python heard her.
For a brief moment, its tail hesitated, and those vertical pupils turned to gaze at her coldly.
Through the heavy downpour, their eyes met—or maybe they didn’t. It was hard to say.
All that mattered was that their figures appeared blurry to each other.
“Hiss!!”
The python was the first to look away, ruthlessly slamming its tail down and crushing over a dozen zombies that had tried to approach.
Su Su’s heart clenched tightly.
She couldn’t accept Xiao Hei like this—more precisely, she couldn’t accept its attitude.
The discomfort she had felt before was long forgotten. Right now, she just wanted it to come back.
“Xiao Hei! Please come back, okay?”
“As long as you come back, I promise I won’t ask to live separately ever again!”
As soon as she shouted those words, Wei Yan’s expression darkened, his gaze flickering with an unreadable emotion.
But Su Su could no longer care about that.
She repeated her plea over and over again, hoping Xiao Hei would stop all this venting and killing.
The giant python definitely heard her.
Its tail visibly hesitated for a split second.
At that exact moment, as if sensing the threat, the zombie horde that had surrounded the base in the rain began retreating, slowly and cautiously.
Su Su was overjoyed. “Xiao Hei! Come back!”
The zombies retreated, and the giant python stood motionless in the rain.
It turned back and glanced at the female.
“Hiss—”
Under countless watchful eyes, the giant python resolutely turned away, chasing after the retreating zombie horde and disappearing beyond the horizon.
Su Su was completely stunned.
She couldn’t understand—why was Xiao Hei still leaving? Was it really because of the separate beds? Had that hurt it so deeply?
Unbidden, an image surfaced in her mind—the scene from this afternoon.
A large, furry tiger had run freely into the mountains, without the slightest hesitation, completely vanishing from the human world.
When the tiger left, she had felt a little sad, but mostly relieved.
But if… if the one leaving was Xiao Hei…
Or worse—if it had seen its own kind make that choice, and was now thinking the same thing…
Su Su couldn’t accept it!
She immediately turned to dash down the watchtower.
Wei Yan reacted quickly, grabbing her arm. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to bring Xiao Hei back!”
“You can’t go!” Wei Yan gripped her wrist tightly, his tone more serious than ever before. “Haven’t you noticed? There’s something wrong with this spring rain! Ever since it started, the zombie ranks have been getting stronger—Tier 4 zombies are everywhere now, and Tier 5 zombies have begun to appear!”
“Even the base has been attacked over a dozen times in the past two weeks!”
“Xiao Hei has already chased into the hunting zone. If you go after it now, you might run into something even stronger!”
Yes, after consuming that Grade 5 crystal, Su Su had advanced to a Tier 5 ability user.
But if an even more powerful Tier 5 zombie appeared in the hunting zone… if she encountered it head-on… she would be walking straight into death!
Wei Yan’s grip was strong.
The last time, Su Su had risked everything for that black snake—grabbing its tail and being dragged into an underground lair before he could stop her.
This time, he absolutely wouldn’t let her put herself in danger for the same reason!
“Xiao Hei is acting strangely. It might be affected by this spring rain, too.”
“Once it’s back to normal, it’ll definitely come back on its own.”
Wei Yan’s voice was firm.
Whether it was because he liked her, or simply because they were companions, he did not want Su Su to take this risk.
That python was strong—it wouldn’t get into trouble.
There was no reason for her to throw herself into a mysterious, unpredictable storm, heading deep into a dangerous and uncontrollable hunting zone.
Su Su stood frozen in place.
Beyond the iron fence, the giant python’s figure had vanished.
It had left her without a single glance back.
As for why…
Maybe it was angry.
Maybe it was resentful.
Maybe it no longer wanted to be commanded by her, nor stay beside a human who refused to give it what it truly wanted…
Su Su was silent for a few seconds.
Then she slowly raised her eyes.
“Wei Yan, if Guan Zixuan or Zheng Wenxiu were in danger, would you still be this calm?”
“Would you stay in the base and wait for them to return, or would you go into the hunting zone to find them yourself?”
Wei Yan understood her meaning immediately.
And for a moment—he had no words.
Su Su slowly but firmly pried open Wei Yan’s fingers. “Thank you for your concern, but I still want to—go find Xiao Hei myself.”
“During this time, please guard the base, and take care of Cancan, Le Rui, and Granny Niu.”
She believed she would come back.
The only thing she feared—was that Xiao Hei wouldn’t want to come back with her.