217: Chapter 217 The Foolish Stalker

"...Mhm, thank you, Li." Maria put on her jacket. "Mhm! My clothes are dry too!"

After sweating profusely yesterday, her fever had broken; the vitamins and antibiotics had done their work.

She woke up around ten o'clock this morning and looked back to see Elsa still asleep on a new mat next to her.

Just like a little piglet.

"You're welcome." Li Ming waved his hand and tossed a box over. "During this time... well, use this to nourish yourself; you're still quite weak right now."

"Ah... thank you for your concern..." She caught the box. Judging by the sound, the contents were definitely precious in times like these...

"I know you're planning to throw these into your warehouse... so what I mean is, I have more here. If you need them, come and get them anytime."

Li Ming wiped his rifle. With half of his head covered in gauze, he looked a bit comical.

Elsa had already left, and now she had to return to report in as well.

"Yesterday... Li, I know my words of thanks are a bit, uh... flimsy right now, but I hope you understand. I'm actually not very good with words, haha..."

"Understandable. Get back quickly. If anything happens... do you guys have a radio frequency?"

"We do, but since it's constantly being jammed, we only use it for short distances."

"Alright, give me your frequency. And this is the IFF device Elsa gave me..."

"Keep it."

"Okay."

"Then I'll be going now! Heave-ho!"

The pulley spun, sending the rope all the way down.

Looks like she's gotten used to this pulley, Li Ming thought to himself.

He stretched. He really hadn't slept well last night, and now it was his turn to catch up on sleep...

...There was a girl's scent on the blanket...

Are cute girls really fragrant?

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After a good sleep, when Li Ming woke up again, the sky seemed to have darkened. Checking the time, it was already 5:00 PM; he had slept for about five hours.

Sliding down the pulley, his goal for today was night movement—to see the "nightlife" of this city.

In any case, after suffering such heavy losses, the Donkey Party Army would have to lie low for a while.

That was an entire Delta squad... They certainly wouldn't take this lying down, but they'd have to catch their breath first.

There were likely at least three main battle tanks in the city, and their drivers were no amateurs. This made things quite difficult for the Donkey Party Army, who were reluctant to take losses, and was one of the reasons the city had been able to resist until now.

Li Ming put a lollipop in his mouth and decided to head back to the place where he saw people yesterday, hoping no one would be frightened by his current half-human, half-ghost appearance.

"Hm?"

Someone was following him again.

This one, however, was clearly much worse than Maria; even the cat-ear hairclip on her head was visible. He knew exactly who it was.

Li Ming suddenly felt like having some fun. After all, he was only eighteen and still full of energy.

He continued walking forward, then suddenly broke into a run.

The other person chased after him. While he claimed to be running away, he was actually just circling around his hideout.

Before the other person could catch up, Li Ming returned to the base of his hideout, lowered the rope, and flew up... just a bit, waiting at a high vantage point for the other person to come looking.

"Hey? Where did this guy go?" Kate looked left and right but could no longer find any trace of Li Ming.

A classic case of not looking up, Li Ming thought.

Watching her creep past, Li Ming quietly descended and then followed behind her.

Now it was her turn to feel like something dirty was stalking her.

Feeling that her attempt to be clever had backfired, Kate hurriedly sought cover and began considering whether she should fire another shot to call for backup.

But obviously, he wasn't going to give her that chance. Once he was close enough, he switched on his flashlight and suddenly lunged forward.

"Waaah?!"

Terrified, Kate scrambled to raise her gun, but this time Li Ming's reaction was clearly faster. The moment she raised the weapon, he kicked out, flipping the safety on her M4 back on, and in the next instant, his other foot kicked out to eject her magazine.

She quickly dropped the gun and backed away, a dagger already in her hand.

Li Ming turned off the flashlight. "What are you doing here instead of sleeping in the middle of the night?"

"Huh?!" She froze. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"Just an ordinary passerby."

Li Ming replied, "This is my territory. I was going to ask why you were stalking me!"

"What's it to you?" Once she confirmed he had no hostile intent, she stood with her hands on her hips and glared at him. "Attacking a staff member of the Mediation Force... I think you're asking for a bullet."

"Then I'll just go join the Donkey Party at worst," Li Ming replied, kicking the gun back to her. "Are all Mediation Force staff this aggressive? Now I understand why those people in the Texas Citizen Army hate you guys so much..."

"What nonsense are you talking?!" Her expression grew serious. "If we weren't here maintaining order, believe it or not, this city would be in a much worse state than what you see now!"

"Oh? Is that so?" Li Ming sneered. "So this is the extent of your skill?"

"What do you mean?"

"Chased around by Delta, only escaping with help from who-knows-who. This is all you've got?"

Indeed, Li Ming was just trying to provoke her on purpose.

She took several deep breaths and then stared at him, especially at the left side of his face, which was wrapped in bandages.

"You're the person who helped me yesterday, aren't you?"

"I wouldn't know." Li Ming continued to play dumb.

She might be a bit dorky, but that didn't mean she was a fool.

After a moment of silence, she put away the dagger, bent down to pick up her rifle, and slung it over her back. "Thank you... I mean it."

"I've heard those two words quite a lot these past two days." Li Ming shrugged.

"I didn't mean to stalk you, it's just that my friend was clearly not in the right state yesterday. She should have gone back to report to her superiors immediately, but she didn't."

She hesitated. "You're the one from a couple of days ago... the person Elsa brought back, right?"

"Uh... presumably." Li Ming thought for a moment and finally dropped his prickly attitude. "And Maria too."

"I know. The direction they came back from today was from your way, which is why I came to check." She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall. "Maria looked like she was just recovering from a serious illness... and then there was Elsa's expression yesterday..."

She opened her eyes again. "It might be a bit presumptuous, but could you tell me a few things?"

"Go ahead and ask."

"What... happened to Maria?"

"She had a fever and was staying with me. I asked Elsa to take care of her."

"No wonder they suddenly came back together..." she muttered under her breath, then walked up to Li Ming. "I'm Kate. Thank you, sir..."

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