Mother and son did not have the opportunity to exchange words. Despite everything, they both had to say to each other, even when there were so many things to do to try to regain at least a small part of the time that was stolen from them, Ye Linger and Bai Zemin were simply too overwhelmed by emotions to be able to express them out loud.
Being consumed by sadness for months, forcing themselves to continue pushing forward for the sake of others even though their hearts were broken at the extremely high possibility of having lost one of the persons they loved most in the world. The mother-son duo had no way of expressing how they felt once they met again.
The relief of the reunion caused the sadness to explode with all its might creating a slide of emotions of colossal magnitude. When emotions reached such highs and lows, there was no way mere words could explain or express them.
Finally, Ye Linger could not help but faint in Bai Zemin's arms. But even then, as he lowered his head to look at her sheet-pale face, he noticed how tears continued falling down from her closed eyes and sliding over her face that was clearly younger than he could remember.
Bai Zemin took a deep breath and slowly took his mother in his arms. He placed one hand gently behind her neck and the other below her knees before lifting her up with the greatest care in the world; it was as if he feared breaking a small, delicate porcelain vase that was priceless and unique in the universe.
However, another pleasant surprise that froze his movements was waiting for him as he turned to look for his father; who at some point had returned to the door to close it.
Standing right next to the wooden door, a very attractive young woman was looking at him with tender and affectionate eyes. Those dark-colored eyes seemed to speak for themselves and like dams they held back what appeared to be floods of tears with great effort.
Her red lips were small but extremely tender and glistened under the faint illumination of the mutant plants, her hair as soft as the finest silk in the world cascaded down to the middle of her back with a single thin braid falling over the left side of her beautiful oval face that evoked softness and affection no matter which way you looked at it.
Her figure was normal, nothing extravagant or exaggerated but definitely gorgeous enough to attract the eyes of males. She wore an emerald green dress that hugged her bust area modestly and fell down the length of her body highlighting especially how slender was that small waist that seemed to be as limber as a swaying snake. In addition to her slender neckline, the beautiful spring-like dress exposed her delicate arms and part of her lower legs adding a certain temptation to what was hidden beneath.
When the two pairs of black eyes met, it was as if time had stopped. The two siblings who had shared countless lived experiences with each other and who were even closer than most siblings despite not sharing the same genes looked at each other in such a way that their eyes seemed to be enough to communicate without even saying a single word.
That was how high the level of tactful understanding the two had reached at this point of the story.
Finally, after about a minute of silence, Bai Zemin smiled tenderly and said in a whispering voice, "I am back."
"... It took you some time." Those red lips that had been tightly closed pursed into a beautiful smile, and at the same time as a single tear slid down her face, Meng Qi said in a choked voice, "Welcome back."
Meng Qi's opening words, far from denoting a complaint, expressed absolute confidence in the person in front of her; confidence that irrespective of the challenges the world and fate would put before him they would be shattered by his hands.
Her final words, though simple, contained joy and longing that only those who knew her well enough could minimally understand. Even more so when Meng Qi very rarely spilled tears.
Bai Delan watched everything from the side with tears at the edge of his eyes. Seeing the disconsolate crying of his life partner and realizing again how high the understanding between his two children was despite not exchanging more than a couple of words made him aware once again of how well he had done his job in raising a family... Even if he had made countless mistakes, at least Bai Delan could hold his head up high and tell to the world that he, Bai Delan, had forged the best family of all.
-Bai Zemin's family living room.
Despite having lost consciousness, Ye Linger refused to let go of her son. She clung to him with her arms around his back so tightly that no one would believe she was currently fainted.
Precisely for this reason, Bai Zemin simply sat on the long white couch with his mother in his arms. Not only did he not have the heart to push her away, but he himself craved the warmth that only his mother could provide; a kind of pure, disinterested warmth that probably only she could transmit to him and which he had been lacking for all this time; a kind of warmth filled with positive emotions that he had had all his life but had only recently learned to truly value.
With Bai Delan sitting opposite him, Bai Zemin glanced sideways at his younger sister sitting next to him with a faint smile on her face and couldn't help but sigh in relief.
He had already realized that his mother Ye Linger was a level 15 soul evolver and his younger sister Meng Qi was level 18. Although neither of them was particularly strong, at least Bai Zemin could feel a little more at ease knowing that in cases of emergency they would both have a better chance of survival and he was reassured by the fact that at the very least no normal man would be able to harm them.
The evolution had helped to make the body of his mother, who was 45 years old this year, look like that of a 38-39 years old woman and surely many diseases and ailments of the past had been eliminated. On the other hand, Meng Qi's natural beauty did nothing but pronounce itself strongly as she was already in her prime per se so all the side effects of her Soul Power were focused on improving her outward appearance.
While Meng Qi had no way to compare with Shangguan Bing Xue and did not reach Wu Yijun's level of beauty, Bai Zemin was aware that his little sister's beauty was a special and unique kind of beauty. He was sure that any man who spent enough time getting to know her would undoubtedly be more likely to fall in love with her than Shangguan Bing Xue or Wu Yijun even if that man spent the same amount of time with each of them; Meng Qi was the kind of beauty that the more time you spent with, the more you were attracted to her... to the point of being completely lost for her.
"I found the note you left in your room." Bai Zemin said in a low voice as he looked beside him, "Even though our house collapsed, that piece of paper was crushed by several pieces of debris so the wind didn't carry it away. It was also thanks to it that I knew which direction to take once I managed to make my way from Yanqing District to here."
"I'm happy to have been of some help." Meng Qi smiled slightly in response.
Despite being only 17 years old and not even having reached the age of adulthood, Meng Qi was several times more mature than any other girl her age. In fact, she was mature and stable enough to see the bigger picture of things; a characteristic which helped her keep her calm on most occasions and something few adults could do.
"Note?" Bai Delan whispered for fear of waking the pitiful-looking sleeping beauty in his son's arms. "What note are you two talking about?"
Meng Qi turned her face to look at him and calmly answered, "Before Leader Wu's military forces mobilized us all to the south when the beasts began to attack Yangfang Town, I left a note on my desk where I indicated the direction in which we were moving and with whom we were advancing... Even though I didn't anticipate the collapse of the house at all, it seems that destiny wanted this meeting to happen."
"This... Princess?" Bai Delan looked at his daughter in surprise and asked dumbfounded, "In the midst of all that chaos you left a note for Bai Zemin to see?"
"Yes?" She inclined her head prettily and looked at her father as if she didn't understand the reason behind his surprise.
"... Child, you..." Bai Delan didn't know whether to laugh or cry as he said softly, "Putting aside the danger you might have gone through for doing that in that kind of circumstance, how were you so sure that this brat would read that note?"
"Oh," Meng Qi finally seemed to understand where the confusion of her father was coming from and said as if it was obvious, "It's because he's the big brother."
It's because he's the big brother...
The corner of Bai Delan's mouth twitched a couple of times and he subconsciously looked at his son for clear answers. However, how could Bai Zemin give him answers he didn't have? Therefore, the only thing Bai Delan got was the image of his son shaking his head as if he was telling him not to look at him and to figure it out on his own.
In the end, all Bai Delan could do was shake his head and sigh.
"Your trust in this brat is even higher than your trust in me who is your father." He said with fake tears, "You hurt my heart, princess."
Meng Qi covered her mouth with the back of her hand and let out a low chuckle without saying anything.
Seizing the opportunity, Bai Zemin asked his father to explain everything about what had happened during these two and a half months.
From his father's mouth, he learned that when the world changed Meng Qi had just arrived home from high school and fortunately managed to avoid the danger and chaos of the central area. Thanks to the fact that the Bai family home was located considerably away from the crowded areas, the family of three managed to avoid the major chaos for the most part.
Bai Zemin was not surprised when he heard his father say that in order to protect his family he took courage and began to hunt zombies carefully; sometimes even spending hours without moving to wait for the right moment. He knew the kind of man his father was since part of Bai Zemin's own principles and values came from his tutelage, so it was no surprise that Bai Delan set aside fears and risked his life for the future of his loved ones.
Although some problems occurred when food became scarce, Meng Qi managed to come up with some good tactics that helped Bai Delan to loot a great part of the local supermarket. As the days went by, about 20 days after the world changed, a military team composed of 200 armed men arrived in Yangfang Town, and with modern firepower, these men were able to bring order to the chaos that still lingered in the streets among those who craved power.
Unfortunately, as the days passed and under constant harassment from mutant beasts and zombies, the soldiers began to fall one by one. Finally, a month after this team arrived in Yangfang Town, and just when 80% had perished, another team of 2000 men arrived, and the commander in charge ordered to get ready to move south.
It was then when under some unknown leader the mutant beasts began to surround Yangfang Town, disallowing the planned mobilization and detaining everyone there for another two weeks.

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