Chapter 679: You Are All in This Together!
“So that’s how it is…”
Ling Mo quickly picked up the tattered cloth he had thrown to the ground, turned around, and walked toward the large hole. Without hesitation, he leaped into it.
The ground rapidly approached, the wind whistling past his ears, while m.u.f.fled cras.h.i.+ng sounds echoed from the shopping mall behind him.
Ling Mo landed lightly on the road but didn’t rush to act. Instead, he casually rubbed his temples.
A Zombie, attracted by the noise, spotted Ling Mo. It was just about to pounce but hesitated.
“Roar?”
It stared at Ling Mo from less than ten meters away, confusedly observing him as he rubbed his temples. The Zombie was also curiously fixated on the piece of tattered cloth floating around Ling Mo.
The Zombie seemed conflicted. Judging by appearances, this was indeed a human.
But the smell he emitted was more like that of a dried-up corpse that didn’t whet the appet.i.te.
And that thing flying in the air? It clearly wasn’t a living creature…
Zombies are most interested in fresh flesh and blood. In a pinch, some decayed and shriveled remains might do.
But something completely devoid of moisture, with only a layer of skin left, would even be off-putting to a Zombie.
The idea that “Zombies aren’t picky eaters” is fundamentally wrong…
Zombies have their own pride and dignity too…
Ling Mo had sensed the Zombie as soon as he landed, but the ma.s.sive expenditure of Psychic Power during the jump left him feeling dizzy, so he didn’t have the energy to deal with it.
After rubbing his temples a few times, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a few vials of medicine.
“Not this one, this is Number 0’s… Oh, here it is.”
Still dizzy, Ling Mo selected one of the small vials, quickly unscrewed it, and poured it into his mouth.
He hadn’t had a chance to take the medicine earlier, but now he finally found the opportunity.
“Finished?”
Ling Mo downed the last bit of the medicine from the vial and shook the empty bottle vigorously.
“Even the base liquid is gone…”
The base liquid used to dilute the Virus was completely used up.
This meant that he could no longer continue making his own medicine. While he wasn’t short on the Virus itself, he had no idea about the composition or the method of making that base liquid.
The ones left by Number 0 weren’t very effective for him. In the blink of an eye, Ling Mo’s supply of recovery medicine was completely exhausted.
“Sigh…” Ling Mo sighed, still holding the empty vial in his hand.
A cool sensation rose from his stomach and quickly spread to his head.
Ling Mo blinked hard, and the dizziness significantly subsided.
While Ling Mo was drinking the medicine, the Zombie nearby had been watching him with its head tilted.
Especially when Ling Mo tilted his head back to gulp the medicine, the Zombie slightly opened its mouth, blankly staring at Ling Mo’s moving Adam’s apple.
When Ling Mo shook the empty vial, the Zombie sniffed eagerly.
It hesitated for a moment, then suddenly widened its eyes.
“Roar!”
The scent of the Virus stimulated the Zombie, and it suddenly charged at Ling Mo with a powerful leap.
“Whoos.h.!.+”
Ling Mo quickly widened his eyes, raising his hand to face the charging Zombie.
The Zombie, in its rush, seemed to slam into an invisible barrier, flipping over and landing heavily on its back.
Before it could get up, the Zombie’s body went rigid, its eyes staring blankly at the sky.
A few seconds later, the Zombie mechanically twitched, then slowly stood up.
“That should do it… Although my Psychic Power hasn’t recovered much, the fatigue has lessened a lot…” Ling Mo shook his head and then looked at his new Zombie Puppet.
After staring at each other for a couple of seconds, Ling Mo cautiously glanced around and then, with his new Zombie Puppet, ran across the street.
Hugging the wall, they swiftly moved forward.
“Where did Ye Lian say it was…” Ling Mo muttered anxiously, scanning his surroundings as he ran. The time he had left was running out…
“Annoying! Weak tras.h.!.+ So infuriating!”
The Bird Zombie screeched loudly, spinning around with incredible speed, its arm sweeping across like a steel bar.
“Bang!”
Half a table leg and some splinters flew out, along with the Zombie Puppet Ling Mo had been controlling.
The Zombie Puppet looked utterly miserable, almost entirely covered in blood. Its face now sported a b.l.o.o.d.y, flesh-mangled dent, and one eye was smeared with thick blood, making the red eyeball appear much dimmer than before, like a murky gla.s.s marble.
The Bird Zombie’s sweep had caused several streams of blood to burst from the Zombie Puppet’s shoulder.
It glanced down at its cracked hand and arm, trembling as it hurled the remaining half of the table leg.
The Bird Zombie tilted its head to dodge, but its purple eyes were now practically sparking with rage. “Enough already! How dare this worthless trash…”
Before it could finish cursing, a cabinet came flying towards it with a “whoosh.”
This time, the Bird Zombie didn’t even bother dodging. The cabinet landed about three meters away with a crash, breaking apart.
The debris scattered over the Bird Zombie, not even scratching its skin.
“Squawk!” The Bird Zombie’s screams grew increasingly bird-like in its frenzy. This fellow Zombie posed no real threat, yet it had driven its fury to an all-time high.
A delicious dinner awaited downstairs, yet it was entangled with a piece of trash fit only for the garbage bin.
Normally, these ordinary Zombies were no different from mosquitoes to it, but today, this one had caused such a huge ha.s.sle.
What infuriated the Bird Zombie the most was the faint sense of that annoying human’s presence on this piece of tras.h.!.+
“You’re all in this together! You’re all in this together!”
The Bird Zombie, now utterly enraged, lunged forward.
But the Zombie Puppet had already cunningly darted away, specifically heading for the corners of the cubicles.
This environment was perfect for a delaying battle; as long as it was fast enough, there were always places to hide.
Along the way, it could grab various objects to throw, avoiding close combat and certain death.
However, as time ticked by, the Zombie Puppet’s stamina had declined to a dangerous threshold.
The wound on its back had not healed and continued to give off a tearing pain.
Its energy was nearly depleted, and the infection could flare up at any moment.
Despite these limitations, under Ling Mo’s skillful and nimble control, the Zombie Puppet continued to dutifully drag the Bird Zombie through the mall.
But the difference in strength was too vast. Just as the Zombie Puppet turned a corner, it felt a sudden tug on its arm.
“Crack!”
Blood splattered, and the Zombie Puppet stumbled forward.
The Bird Zombie, watching its prey continue to run, angrily threw the torn-off arm to the ground. “You’re not even fit to be a Zombie!”
“Being fit to be a human is enough…” thought Ling Mo.
Ye Lian continued to guard the entrance. Her seemingly frail and delicate body achieved the effect of “one Zombie holding the gate, ten thousand unable to pa.s.s.”
With Thor in her hands and her continuously auto-focusing eyes, any approaching Zombies were blasted into a b.l.o.o.d.y mess.
Even if some Zombies managed to get close, Ye Lian would easily dispatch them.
After advancing to a dominant level, the benefits she gained included not only the mutation of her eyes but also a comprehensive improvement in her physical abilities.
Though not yet stable, dealing with these lower-level Zombies was still more than manageable.
After putting down Thor again, she reached into her backpack and pulled out a handful of bullets.
“Keep… coming,” Ye Lian muttered, her slightly bewildered eyes scanning the vast interior of the mall, watching the Zombies continuously climbing over the railings.
Those hit fell from heights, splattering blood everywhere, some got caught on the railings, and others flew into the stores, becoming meals for pa.s.sing Zombies.
The smell of blood grew thicker, and Ye Lian’s eyes became increasingly bright.
The dominant-level Zombie aura she emitted was rising steadily…
“Squawk!” The Bird Zombie screeched while relentlessly attacking the Zombie Puppet.
With one arm gone, the Zombie Puppet’s stamina drained even faster, and its speed continued to decrease.
It hadn’t run much farther when its other arm was torn off as well.
Blood splattered everywhere, and the strong scent of blood filled the mall.
Some Zombies, drawn by the commotion, began to gather. They hovered in the dim corners like vultures, their eyes glinting coldly as they watched the Zombie Puppet.
With a frenzied King level Zombie present, they dared not approach.
“Smack!”
The Bird Zombie hurled the other arm away, then suddenly leapt, hooking its claws into the ceiling before dropping heavily onto the Zombie Puppet’s head.
Its bird-like talons gripped the Zombie Puppet’s shoulders, slamming it to the ground with a thud.
“Rip you apart!”
The Bird Zombie screeched, baring its teeth. Never before had it felt such excitement during a hunt.
The most incredible part was that its thrilling opponent was merely an ordinary Zombie.
No, this fellow Zombie couldn’t be ordinary. It must be connected to that human!
“Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck! Tear you apart!”
The Bird Zombie stomped on the struggling Zombie Puppet, bending down to grab its hair.
It couldn’t wait to see this bug’s head torn off. Witnessing death and blood was the ultimate pleasure for Zombies.
“Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck!” The Bird Zombie laughed maniacally, almost forgetting about Ye Lian.
But as it bent down, the Bird Zombie suddenly felt something amiss.
Before it could turn, the Zombie Puppet twisted its body in a grotesque manner, bones cracking audibly, and bit down on the Bird Zombie’s leg at an impossible angle.
The bite didn’t hurt, but it was tight. The Bird Zombie tried to kick it away, but blood seeped through the Zombie Puppet’s clenched teeth, and it still didn’t let go.