It was around noon.
Niley looked up and saw Han smiling gently against the sunlight. She was stunned for a moment, then let him pull her up into the ox cart.
Behind them, Mier sensed something was wrong and quickly called out, "Wife!"
Niley came back to her senses, turned around and smiled. "Mier, do you want to come up?"
Mier walked a bit faster and looked past Niley at Han, who was staring at him without blinking, still holding Niley's hand tightly.
"Big brother, you don't have to hold her hand just to teach her how to drive the cart, right?" Mier blinked at Niley with a very pitiful expression.
Han's eyes dimmed slightly. He was just about to say something when the hand he was holding let go—and then that hand reached for someone else's, pulling them up onto the ox cart.
"Wife, this ox cart is even slower than walking!"
Mier sat down and noticed how slow the cart was, so he was about to get off. After all, it wasn't their ox, and he didn't want to tire it out.
"You want a fast ride?"
Niley didn't catch what he meant and turned to look at him curiously.
Before Mier could reply, she looked down both ends of the road and saw there was no one else around. An idea popped into her mind.
She jumped off the cart, grabbed Mier from under his arms, and carried him down with excitement. "Let me take you on a fast ride."
She walked quickly ahead, and then suddenly, a big pickup truck appeared out of thin air on the empty road.
Mier and the others were shocked. Right away, they tried to get Niley to put the truck away.
Niley wasn't too happy. She really didn't want to walk for over an hour. Even in the apocalypse, she never walked this far—she either drove or used her powers.
But seeing the others worried, she shook her head and said to Mier, "Don't worry. There's no one around. Get in the truck!"
Before Mier could say anything, she pulled him into the front passenger seat.
Then she helped Mier buckle up and looked at Mr. Chen and Liam. She pulled them both up as well.
Xing looked eager, but when he saw that Niley wasn't going to let him in, he turned his head proudly and stood next to Han's ox cart, muttering, "Who cares!"
Once Mr. Chen and Liam were in the truck, Niley got in the driver's seat and drove off.
Han and the other two watched as the truck sped off, their eyes wide in disbelief.
Xing slapped Han's arm. "Big bro, that thing is amazing!"
"It's really fast."
Lei narrowed his eyes and sighed. "Big bro, she's still childish. If the wrong people saw this, it could be dangerous for her."
"Pfft, who can actually deal with her?" Xing didn't worry at all. "That woman can kill dozens of wolves with one hit. Who's dumb enough to mess with her?"
Back with Niley, she only stopped the truck after they had driven far enough that the others were nowhere in sight.
It was Mier and the others' first time riding in a car. Even though they were curious, the speed scared them so much their faces turned pale, and they couldn't say a word.
Knowing it was their first time, Niley drove slowly. When she saw that their faces looked better, she relaxed. "Mier, just sit back and relax. You don't need to be so stiff."
"Wife, you should really put this thing away. What if someone sees it?" Mier's face was still pale. He had never ridden anything this fast before.
Mr. Chen also couldn't help commenting, "It's faster than a horse cart—but maybe too fast."
Only Liam was quiet, though his face was puffed and pale.
Seeing them all so scared, Niley helped unbuckle Mier's seatbelt, got out first, and helped the three of them out too.
To stop them from complaining about the truck, she waved her hand and put it back into her space.
As soon as Liam stepped onto solid ground, his stomach turned. He walked aside to throw up—but nothing came out.
Mr. Chen and Mier both rushed over, worried.
"Wife, what's wrong with Liam?"
Niley scratched her head and looked at Liam, who was also staring at her. She blinked. "Maybe he's car sick? Did you eat this morning?"
Liam shook his head while trying to hold back the nausea, and silently rolled his eyes at her. She was so unreliable.
"We left just before noon and didn't eat lunch," Mier explained when he saw Liam was feeling awful.
Niley's eyes widened. "Why didn't anyone tell me?"
She usually only cooked when she was hungry or when Mier told her it was mealtime. Her eating schedule was usually pretty regular—but she forgot because they went into the mountains today.
Mier looked confused. "I thought you wanted to eat in town."
"It'll take a while to get to town. Why don't we eat while we wait for the others?"
Right after saying that, Mr. Chen took out some vegetable pancakes from his bag and handed them out.
Niley looked at the dry pancakes and swallowed hard.
"We don't need to eat these. I've got better food."
The four of them sat together as Niley took out some food from her space and started handing it out.
When they saw the fancy pastries in front of them, they all swallowed hard but didn't move.
"This is tiramisu. See which flavor you like and pick one." Niley picked a plain one for herself and handed a strawberry one to Mier.
"Just scoop it with a spoon and eat it. Try it." She took a bite, then looked at Mier.
Seeing her like that, Mier scooped a bite and tasted it. His eyes narrowed with delight, and he nodded. "Wife, this is really delicious!"
Mr. Chen and Liam also started eating and said it was good.
Niley quickly finished one and then gave them some fruit tea from her space.
After eating and drinking, the four of them copied Niley and sat on small rocks to wait for Han's group.
Mier started to doze off from boredom, his head leaning toward her shoulder. Niley smiled. "Mier, do you want to try another tasty treat?"