Lin Chu, who was half a step behind her, quickly noticed that Yang Qianqian’s expression had turned somewhat unpleasant.

“What’s wrong?”

Hearing Lin Chu’s question, Yang Qianqian didn’t answer but quickened her pace and walked ahead.

Lin Chu looked up and glanced in the direction Yang Qianqian had just looked at.

However, all she saw were ordinary residential buildings, with every door and window tightly shut, nothing special about them.

She followed Yang Qianqian into the deepest building.

It was still an ordinary walk-up building. The two of them climbed the stairs, one in front of the other.

Earlier, when Lin Chu asked small questions, Yang Qianqian would respond, but ever since they entered this community, the atmosphere around her had become heavy, and she showed no interest in talking.

Soon, they reached the fourth floor and stood in front of a gray-green iron door.

Yang Qianqian took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

Soon, the sound of footsteps came from inside. The wooden door behind the iron gate opened, revealing a tall, sturdy man standing behind it.

“Yang Qianqian, you’re not lucky. My daughter Ruo Qing is sleeping. You can come back next time.”

With that, he began to close the door.

“Uncle!” Yang Qianqian quickly called out to stop him. “I made an appointment with Ruo Qing. Can you let me in? I just want to talk to her. If she doesn’t want to wake up, I’ll leave.”

The man inside tilted his head and glanced at her, “Don’t think I don’t know why you want to see Ruo Qing. You’re just trying to persuade her not to stand in the snow, right?”

“You’re hurting my daughter. Leave! I won’t let you in!”

Oh?

Lin Chu observed the man inside. His speech and actions appeared no different from an ordinary person.

But from the way he spoke, it seemed that, just like Aunt Ju, he had already been successfully parasitized by the snowworm.

Yang Qianqian became anxious, but the man didn’t even open the outer door for her. She couldn’t stop him from closing it and could only stomp her foot in frustration.

“Uncle, I…”

“Uncle, hello. I’m Qianqian’s cousin.”

Suddenly, Lin Chu spoke up from behind.

The man, who was about to close the door, heard her voice and looked over. When he saw her wearing a denim jacket and a hoodie, his displeasure slightly faded.

“Oh? I’ve never heard of Yang Qianqian having a cousin.”

“I only arrived at my aunt’s house yesterday. I got caught in the snow, and I have a headache. My aunt asked me to stay at home to rest.”

Hearing Lin Chu’s words, a smile appeared on the man’s face, and then he turned to Yang Qianqian, “Look, your cousin knows how to stand in the snow. Yet, you’re still trying to stop my Ruo Qing from doing it.”

“Uncle, don’t worry. I’ve already convinced Qianqian. She’s willing to stand in the snow next time, so she wanted to come and tell Ruo Qing the news.”

“I…”

Yang Qianqian wanted to rebut, but Lin Chu tugged at the back of her clothes, and she immediately changed her tone: “Yes, Uncle, please let me in to talk to Ruo Qing.”

The man glanced at her, his eyes shifting, and then opened the gray-green iron door.

“Fine, you can come in.”

Seeing that the man agreed, Lin Chu followed Yang Qianqian inside. When they were about to take off their shoes, a look of deeper meaning appeared in Lin Chu’s eyes.

From the current situation, it seemed that as long as they saw that she wasn’t wearing thick clothing, they would believe she had already been parasitized by the snowworm.

Lin Chu followed Yang Qianqian into slippers and walked toward Zhou Ruo Qing’s room.

However, a thick arm blocked their way.

“Yang Qianqian, Ruo Qing stood in the snow this morning and has a fever. Don’t talk to her for too long. Let her rest.”

Upon hearing this, Yang Qianqian immediately looked at the man. “Ruo Qing has already stood in the snow?”

The man nodded and then looked her over with some confusion.

“You’ve already decided to stand in the snow, why are you reacting so strongly?”

Yang Qianqian’s chest heaved up and down, and she was at a loss for words for a moment.

“Qianqian is still a child at heart. She originally wanted to stand in the snow with Ruo Qing next time, but it looks like Ruo Qing beat her to it.”

Lin Chu, smiling behind her, patted Yang Qianqian’s head. “Go ahead, check on Ruo Qing. We should head back soon.”

Yang Qianqian didn’t quite understand why Lin Chu was helping her, but right now, she was focused on her best friend and didn’t have the time to think further. She hurriedly pushed open the door to Zhou Ruo Qing’s bedroom and rushed in.

The living room was left with just Lin Chu and Uncle Zhou.

Uncle Zhou turned to look at Lin Chu and showed a sincere smile.

This smile was one Lin Chu was very familiar with. Ever since Aunt Ju “woke up from her fever,” she had been giving Lin Chu the same kind of smile.

Lin Chu mimicked them, widening her smile.

It was like a secret code had worked. The man opposite her grinned, showing his teeth, and asked, “Was it smooth?”

Lin Chu remained calm, answering without hesitation, “Very smooth.”

Uncle Zhou laughed, his face full of wrinkles, and he praised Lin Chu:

“I didn’t expect you to be so capable. You handled Yang Qianqian right away. Every time she comes to my house, I try to convince her, but she doesn’t listen to anything.”

Lin Chu deepened her smile. “She has already been persuaded by everyone, and I didn’t expect myself to be so lucky.”

Uncle Zhou nodded, glancing at the sky. “We’ll have to wait until the next batch of eggs arrives before we can continue pulling people in.”

“But I see there are already quite a few of our people here. Given time…”

Before he could finish his sentence, he seemed to hear something and immediately rushed into Zhou Ruo Qing’s room.

Upon entering, he saw Yang Qianqian kneeling on the floor, seemingly having taken out a thermos, unscrewing the cap, ready to pour it over Zhou Ruo Qing’s head.

But nothing came out.

“Yang Qianqian, so you’re pretending!”

“You didn’t know, but when Ruo Qing returned after standing in the snow this morning, the first thing she did was look for her thermos. Unfortunately, I knew her plan ahead of time and had already poured out all the hot water.”

He walked in, approaching Yang Qianqian with an aggressive look, causing her to instinctively retreat.

“Why is standing in the snow so bad? Once you stand in it, you won’t feel cold anymore. You won’t need to wear so many clothes. It’s so freeing.”

“In the future, the temperature here won’t rise anymore. It will always stay around minus sixty to seventy degrees. See, this is the result of natural selection.”

“Your cousin is really useless. She couldn’t even tell she was being tricked by you. I can’t believe I have such a foolish relative. I—”

Before he could finish his sentence, a pot of hot water was poured over his head.

The big man, who had been so aggressive, immediately curled up like a boiled shrimp, clutching his head, collapsing to the ground and writhing in pain.

He couldn’t stop crying out in unbearable agony.

This time, Lin Chu didn’t use water mixed with cold water. Worried that the already-parasitized snowworms might be more stubborn, she poured nothing but boiling water.

The man’s scalp and back turned bright red, and large blisters quickly formed.

It was only then that Yang Qianqian turned her gaze to the woman at the door holding a ladle of water.

“You, you…”

Her language system was a bit confused at this moment. She couldn’t understand what was happening in front of her.

In her mind, her “cousin” had already become one of their people. How could she still help her?

Just as she was in a state of confusion, Zhou Ruo Qing, who had been on the bed, seemed to be disturbed by the man’s painful cries and was showing signs of waking up.

“Ugh…”

That’s right, the hot water!

Yang Qianqian urgently looked at Lin Chu:

“Cousin, is there more hot water? Quickly, give some to Ruo Qing! It needs to be mixed with cold water, and it should be above 50°C!”