Python Tendon!

"The atmosphere in your convoy is pretty good."

Lian Ziqiong picked up a piece of sliced apple, tossed it high into the air, then tilted her head back and let it fall freely into her mouth as she spoke.

"Of course. Our convoy is called the Hope Convoy, and our core principle is fairness and impartiality. We might be sequence users, but if we want supplies from the survivors, we can only trade for them on a voluntary basis."

Luo Fan nodded and spoke with a serious expression.

Zhao Chunfeng and the others beside him said nothing.

After all, Luo Fan's cunning-uh, rather, his wisdom-had earned unanimous recognition within the team.

So everyone felt quite comfortable leaving Luo Fan to deal with a powerful professional sequence user like her.

After all, this sort of thing ought to be left to the smartest person in the group.

"Tsk, tsk. I've been traveling through the apocalypse for so long, and I've encountered plenty of convoys, but ones like yours really are rare."

Seeing the living conditions of the convoy's survivors, Lian Ziqiong could tell he was speaking the truth, and she clicked her tongue in admiration.

"By the way, Miss Lian, are you on your own? You don't have a convoy?" Both times they had run into her, she had been alone, so Luo Fan asked curiously.

"That's right. Being in a convoy has its advantages, and acting alone has its advantages too."

"I travel alone, hunting Fierce Beasts and Weirds."

"Every extra one I kill makes the world a little safer. I just do what I can." Lian Ziqiong spoke calmly, but her words inspired respect.

At that point, Lian Ziqiong paused briefly, then continued, "Also, I don't like people calling me Miss Lian. You can call me Brother Lian if you like."

"Brother... Lian?" The corners of Luo Fan's mouth twitched slightly. Clearly, he found that form of address rather jarring.

"You're a man?" Niu Dagang couldn't help asking in surprise when he heard that.

"If you have no use for your eyes, you can donate them to someone who needs them." Lian Ziqiong rolled her eyes at Niu Dagang and retorted irritably.

Then she explained to Luo Fan, "I'm a woman, but I've hated all that girly stuff since before the apocalypse, so my close female friends used to call me Brother Lian too."

"All right, Brother Lian is awesome! Brother Lian is mighty! I never drink, but today, I've got to raise a toast to you. This damned apocalypse has left the world in tatters, but thankfully, you're still patching it up, Brother Lian."

Luo Fan bought two cans of beer directly from his shop, pulled the tabs open, and handed one to Lian Ziqiong.

The two 500 ml cans clinked together, and Luo Fan tilted his head back and took a sip.

Lian Ziqiong, however, gulped hers down in one bold go.

Seeing a woman down her drink so boldly, what could Luo Fan say? He followed suit and guzzled down his entire can of beer.

"Nice! You've got spirit. What should I call you?" Seeing Luo Fan finish his drink with her, Lian Ziqiong smiled in praise and asked.

"Just call me Luo Fan. Assassination sequence, Lv8," Luo Fan replied.

"Well, let me introduce myself properly. Shadow assassin sequence, Lv12." Since Luo Fan had given not only his name but also his sequence and level, Lian Ziqiong wasn't stingy about keeping hers hidden either and answered openly.

Shadow assassin? Lv12? So it really is a professional advancement of the assassination sequence? Hearing her introduction, Luo Fan nodded inwardly.

"By the way, what's your communication phone number? Let's add each other as friends so we can stay in touch," Lian Ziqiong asked next.

Well, now. In all his years, this was the first time a girl had taken the initiative to ask for his contact information. Luo Fan was genuinely quite moved.

"Communication phone number? Haven't all phone signals been knocked out since the apocalypse?" Luo Fan asked Lian Ziqiong in confusion.

"You haven't bought one of the latest communication phones?" Lian Ziqiong asked Luo Fan in surprise.

Luo Fan glanced at Zhao Chunfeng and the others beside him. They shook their heads one after another, indicating that they had no idea what these latest communication phones were.

"They were made last month by a top artisan professional sequence user. They were modeled on the functions of phones, so people simply called them phones too. Quite a few sequence users have them now."

"I saw that you even had a Mustard Seed Bag, so I assumed you'd bought a phone too."

"All right, add me once you buy one." Luo Fan and the others were baffled, and Lian Ziqiong was actually baffled too. She then recited a string of numbers for Luo Fan to note down.

A Mustard Seed Bag? Judging by the name, it should be some kind of storage item. So she'd mistaken my storage space for an item called a Mustard Seed Bag?

Luo Fan chatted with her some more and indeed learned quite a bit of important information from Lian Ziqiong.

First, Fierce Beast Meat was hard currency in trades between sequence users, serving the dual purposes of providing food and increasing strength.

Second, as phones gradually became more widespread, sequence users had more or less established a platform for communication.

Finally, thanks to the existence of phones, escape convoys within a certain range of one another would occasionally organize exchange meetings, gathering briefly to share information and trade supplies and materials.

As they ate hot pot and chatted, Lian Ziqiong indeed showed none of a girl's bashfulness. Open and at ease, she shared a great deal of information Luo Fan and the others hadn't known.

For instance, it seemed someone had recently been attempting to induce sequence awakenings on a mass scale, and word was that they had already achieved some results.

For the current apocalyptic world, that was probably the best news of all.

"All right, that was a great hot pot meal. Until we meet again. Once you get a phone, add me so we can keep in touch."

After finishing the hot pot, Lian Ziqiong stood up to leave and bade Luo Fan and the others farewell.

"Wait, Brother Lian..." Seeing Lian Ziqiong get up to leave, Luo Fan called out.

Then he bought a full five jin of apples directly from his shop.

"Take these apples as thanks for your information," Luo Fan said, handing all five jin over.

There were a full five jin of apples, each the size of a fist and looking extremely fresh. Lian Ziqiong couldn't help swallowing.

"No, no. I already got a free meal out of you. The information was payment for the meal. How could I sell the same goods twice?" Although she wanted them, Lian Ziqiong still shook her head and refused.

"Didn't you say you hated all that girly stuff most, Brother Lian? We're already calling each other brothers. Refusing would just make us seem like strangers." Luo Fan goaded her by taking a step back to move forward.

"All right, then I won't stand on ceremony."

Sure enough, the goading worked quite well. Lian Ziqiong nodded and made no further attempt to refuse.

Walking over to the thoroughly dead python, Lian Ziqiong took out a short knife, sliced its body open, and pulled a python tendon out from inside.

"Your bow looks pretty good. Replacing its string with this python tendon should make it a little stronger. It's yours, and don't refuse, or you'll just make us seem like strangers."

She held the python tendon out to Luo Fan.

"All right, I won't stand on ceremony either. Thanks, Brother Lian." Putting on a bold manner, Luo Fan accepted the python tendon.

Only then did Lian Ziqiong put away the python's corpse, her figure swiftly fading as she turned invisible and left.

"Invisibility abilities really are useful." Once again, Luo Fan was overwhelmed with envy at Lian Ziqiong's invisibility.

Spirit Void Step combined with invisibility-wouldn't that let her come and go without a trace? No wonder she could travel alone through this apocalypse.

"She's truly a woman like the wind," Zhao Chunfeng remarked with feeling as well.