Chapter 604 – The Blood-Red h.e.l.l of Memory
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Indeed, under Ling Mo’s relentless a.s.sault, the shadow was successfully held at bay.
Previously, the shadow hadn’t taken this human seriously, even using him as a breakthrough point, but now it was forced to concentrate its attention on Ling Mo.
However, within just a few seconds of their standoff, Ling Mo noticed that his opponent was becoming increasingly agitated.
“Squeak, squeak!”
The juvenile zombie struggled weakly in Shana’s hands, its mouth crying out as the half-piece of straw-like tentacle extended and trembled within.
Hearing the cry, the shadow couldn’t help but glance back, and at that moment, a slight flaw appeared in its mental fluctuations.
“Perfect opportunity!”
It was just a moment, but Ling Mo had already sharply captured it.
Several tentacles under his control surged forward, piercing directly towards the weak spot of the opponent’s Mental Sphere.
With mental power restricted, both materialization and mental interference had remarkably poor effects.
So, Ling Mo’s method of attack was simple: consume!
No sooner had these tentacles formed than they began to dissipate rapidly, but as Ling Mo made them cling to the opponent’s Mental Sphere like locusts, greedily feeding, the tide turned in his favor!
The zombie’s mental power was actually quite strong!
But this unexpected discovery didn’t pressure Ling Mo; on the contrary, it involuntarily excited him!
After all, it had been a long time since he’d found a suitable target for consumption!
Staying with Team F, even though he often saw mental ability users around, he couldn’t just pounce on them to feed! He wasn’t a maniac…
And the zombies he encountered typically lacked any substantial mental power foundation. The meager energy gained from absorbing them was less than what Ling Mo expended in attacking and consuming them.
However, the mutated zombie that appeared here was entirely different!
Ling Mo could feel that the opponent’s brain had definitely undergone mutation. The mental energy possessed by this one was almost on par with Shana’s!
“What kind of breed is this…”
After the excitement, Ling Mo couldn’t help but be curious.
The zombie was in extreme pain from being consumed, suddenly opened its mouth to let out a fierce roar, and lunged at Ling Mo.
“Hehe, come on.” Ling Mo chuckled.
The opponent seemed to understand what provocation meant. It attempted to stop halfway, only to find that two other female zombies had already surrounded it.
“Squeak, squeak!”
The juvenile zombie also called out anxiously, whether it was worried about the shadow or seeking help from it.
Its cries undoubtedly caused great interference to the shadow’s actions. The shadow might have had a chance to resist for a while, but it fell into an absolute disadvantage amidst the disturbance of the juvenile zombie’s cries.
In terms of mental power, the shadow was tightly marked by Ling Mo, with no chance to divert attention to attack Ye Lian or Li Ya Lin.
In fact, the shadow’s methods in using mental power were quite monotonous, just a mental shock…
As for Ling Mo, although the environment was not in his favor, his endless variety of little tricks left the opponent completely unable to cope.
After overcoming the initial discomfort of being suppressed in strength, Ling Mo felt more and more adept.
He even thought that this place was a good training ground for him, where he could use his special abilities to better grasp those sensations.
If it weren’t for the fact that it was not advisable to stay here for long, he would have really considered practicing more.
Once the main means of damage were lost, relying solely on speed and strength, the phantom couldn’t stand up to the pincer attack of Ye Lian and Li Ya Lin.
Ye Lian occasionally fired a shot, which often caused the phantom significant damage, while Li Ya Lin was like a phantom herself, elusive, with extremely tricky angles of attack, just like a venomous snake weaving through the gra.s.s.
Before long, the phantom was left wailing miserably as Ye Lian shot it in the abdomen, creating a bloodied, gaping hole.
“Wait! Hold your fire!” Ling Mo quickly called out.
The phantom was sent flying backward, but Ling Mo chased after it.
The phantom, which had not yet died, twitched for a while, then collapsed on the ground with a lifeless gaze.
As he consumed the phantom’s mental power, images inevitably appeared before Ling Mo’s eyes…
From these intermittent images, it was clear that this zombie was not one of the original infection sources that first appeared, but rather one of the first batch of mutated zombies “produced.”
As Ling Mo had guessed, their primary mutated organs were not their hands or feet, but their brains.
This not only made them much more intelligent than ordinary zombies, but also endowed them with strong mental power.
Like the Berserker they had encountered before, whose main mutation was in the hands, with only a slight mutation in the brain, it gained increased intelligence but not the powerful mental energy of the defective products.
And strictly speaking, the one drained by Ling Mo was far from being comparable to the original infection source.
The most fatal point was that it could not enhance mental power through training like a human mental ability user, and it also needed a longer time to recover after consumption.
Their method of recovery was to turn themselves back into a “coc.o.o.n.”
This mucus layer could s.h.i.+eld mental energy and also perform some minor absorption, essentially acting as a two-way plug.
This was also why the Berserker had left, but this brain mutant had remained here.
This place was their lair, and as high-level zombies, they had the characteristic of going out to hunt and bringing prey back.
The presence of the mucus layer concealed them well; as for why they were discovered by Yu s.h.i.+ran and the others, this would have to wait until they found the zombie loli to clarify.
At this moment, what most caught Ling Mo’s attention was a scene that suddenly appeared in those images.
In the darkness, a pair of blood-red eyes suddenly flashed…
Just like these monsters hidden in the darkness, abrupt and terrifying, yet distinctly different.
The shade of red was extremely deep, like two bottomless wells of blood.
Just one glance made one feel as if they were being sucked into them…
Original infection source!
This term immediately sprang to Ling Mo’s mind.
Only the original infection source would possess such eyes…
This was a condition that presented itself when mental power reached a significant level, capable of causing mental disturbances to those with weaker wills just with a simple gaze.
But those who have survived up to now, there are hardly any with weak wills.
As for zombies… it’s likely they’d charge before even making eye contact, so how meaningful could a stare be?
“Whew!”
Ling Mo suddenly steadied his mind and shook his head.
“What’s wrong?” asked Li Ya Lin.
Those eyes remained in Ling Mo’s mind, indelible: “I think I’ve discovered a zombie…” He paused, then continued in a complex tone, “A zombie that likely possesses the strongest mental power.”
“Where?” Shana immediately looked around with vigilance.
“Not here,” Ling Mo shook his head, “and… it’s been gone for a while.”
In the images, those red eyes appeared only once, and this zombie was part of the first batch of “products.”
If there wasn’t more memory about the original infection source in his head, it could only mean that the other party had left after creating them.
This factory was then controlled by these “products,” and they were continuously cycling this production process.
Theoretically, the likelihood of later “products” becoming strong in mental abilities decreased, which is why the mutated zombies Ling Mo and his group encountered here were mostly those with physical mutations.
“Ah, I see…” Shana had to avert her gaze upon hearing Ling Mo’s response.
“Mm…” Ling Mo hummed in reply while standing up and supporting his head.
He revealed a slight smile of surprise; after draining the mutated zombie, his consumed mental power was nearly fully restored.
Moreover, some of the energy was being slowly absorbed, and once completed, his total mental power would receive a slight boost.
And the total mental power of this zombie was perhaps not even one-tenth of that of the original infection source…
“No rush, no rush…” Ling Mo quickly interrupted his train of thought, “We still need to find Yu s.h.i.+ran quickly. We’ve been down here for over ten minutes, and if we delay any longer, Mu Chen and the others might start looking for us.”
“But who knows where Yu s.h.i.+ran and the others are…” Li Ya Lin stroked her hair, speaking out.
Ling Mo looked strangely at the juvenile zombie that Shana held in her hand, and heh-heh chuckled: “Don’t we still have this troublesome thing?”