Chapter 570 – Alpha Wolf
....
“Awooo!”
A zombie suddenly leaped from the second floor, landing heavily on the ground below with a guttural howl.
Its arms trembled with the impact, its single eye crimson as blood, radiating a crazed intent to kill as it scanned the horde of its kin.
Amidst its incessant howling, these kin began to stir restlessly.
Suddenly, a zombie sprang from behind a wall, lunging straight at it.
The one-eyed zombie reacted swiftly, twisting around and leaping up to confront its a.s.sailant head-on.
The two zombies clashed in an instant, a collision of brute force, tearing muscles, and shattering bones… With every swing of their arms, blood and gore splattered wildly.
Violence and bloodshed – such was the prevailing way of life for the zombie race.
“Splat!”
Eventually, the one-eyed zombie seized its chance, its talons striking fast and hard into the belly of its foe, then with a ferocious roar, it ripped out the entrails of the other.
With a gaping, gory hole in its stomach, the vanquished zombie still stood defiantly, wavering for a good ten seconds before falling to the ground with a piercing shriek.
As its kin hit the floor, the one-eyed zombie raised its arm, thick with sticky blood, clutching a ma.s.s of fresh organs, and let out an enraged roar: “Awooo!”
“Awooo! Awooo!”
Echoing howls rose from the horde, as the one-eyed zombie flung the entrails into the throng.
The savory morsels were instantly torn to shreds by countless uplifted talons, and after extracting the Virus Gel from the skull of the corpse, the one-eyed zombie left the body to the bloodthirsty butchers that were always insatiable for fresh blood.
The crunching of chewed flesh filled the air, accompanied periodically by the snapping of bones and various eerie, skin-crawling noises…
“Phew! No matter how many times I see this, these creatures are just… d.a.m.n monsters!”
Not far away, in a small building, Mu Chen withdrew his gaze from the crack in the window, his face contorted in disgust.
He turned to look at the others in the room – “Big Brother” and his three female companions, himself, Xu Shuhan, and Xia Zhi…
A wave of gloom suddenly washed over him again. He was supposed to be an undercover agent, so how did he end up here?
Why had things taken such a bizarre turn?
Such misfortune! Mu Chen sighed, thinking that he really wasn’t very professional as an undercover agent…
“It’s different from before…” Ling Mo, still standing by the window, commented as he watched.
“What’s different? Their eating speed or their movements?” Mu Chen asked with revulsion. He had to admire Ling Mo’s nerves – it was astounding how intently he could watch.
Little did Mu Chen know, the man before him had dissected zombies in the name of virus research.
Besides, Ling Mo spent his days controlling zombies, surrounded by untamed zombies and Mutated Beasts. No one understood the instincts and behaviors of zombies better than he did.
Having seen so much, he had long since developed a kind of immunity…
“Zombies, their behavior patterns have changed from before,” Ling Mo said. “Previously, their battles were chaotic; hunting their own kind was purely driven by evolution, an instinctual behavior. But now it’s different. They seem to have become like a pack of wolves, with an alpha wolf emerging in a region, then challenging others of nearly equal strength to contest its position.”
What Ling Mo described was precisely what they had just witnessed: “The winner becomes nourishment for the original alpha wolf, making it stronger. If it loses, it becomes nourishment for the challenger, and either way, a stronger alpha wolf is born.”
“What’s the difference?” Gu Shuangshuang asked; she had been standing off to the side and even startled Mu Chen when she spoke, as he had completely overlooked her presence until now. Despite being a mental ability user, how could her presence be so faint…
“It’s quite different. Although there’s still killing, it’s now more disciplined and purposeful, with much less senseless sacrifice,” Ling Mo finished explaining, only to realize that Xu Shuhan had pa.s.sed him the microphone, a.s.suming a stance ready for an interview…
“I mean…” Ling Mo was somewhat helpless.
“Don’t mind me,” Xu Shuhan said calmly, while pus.h.i.+ng the microphone a bit closer.
“Can you not poke my face with the mic, though?” Ling Mo continued helplessly.
He looked pleadingly towards Ye Lian and the other two female zombies, only to find that they were excitedly squeezed together at a small window, keenly observing the scene outside.
If the group had been paying close attention to them, they would have been shocked by their expressions.
The excitement and longing they displayed were definitely not emotions a normal human would show in such a situation…
Ling Mo thought to remind them, but then chose not to say anything, subtly s.h.i.+fting his position to completely isolate their line of sight from the rest of the people.
Seeing their reaction, Ling Mo realized that he might have been neglecting them a bit lately…
Even though they seemed happy with him, the problem was that they were, after all, zombies. Even Xia Na, who possessed half a human nature, couldn’t escape the innate instincts of a zombie.
Experiencing killing up close and sensing the blood was what truly brought pleasure to their souls.
And being with many humans… no matter how much they restrained themselves, they were ultimately uncomfortable.
“I’ve been a bit selfish… better get things sorted out soon,” Ling Mo reminded himself.
Mu Chen, however, was quite skeptical of Ling Mo’s words.
Their group, Niepan, had already been aware of this information.
But he didn’t want to openly discredit Ling Mo, since he still needed to rely on him to gather intelligence.
However, at that moment, he suddenly thought of something and cleared his throat, saying, “Actually, when we were outside before, we also understood some…”
“What?” Ling Mo immediately snapped back to attention and asked.
“The changes in zombie groups aren’t just about discipline. It’s just that when we usually go out, we see zombies everywhere and it feels the same as before, so we don’t notice those details,” Mu Chen said, sensing Ling Mo’s interest and feeling a bit smug. So, you only know so much, huh!
Just a small Team F, which could only accommodate one Level nine member, how could they compare with Niepan!
He was, after all, a high-ranking official in the division. You strut around all day, and now you get to see the difference!
“With so many zombies around here, there must be a special mutated type, but it probably isn’t here. During our operation, we’ll look for it. Also, the leaders among these zombies, besides accepting challenges, actually also have the priority to find mates and can even settle some internal disputes within their species,” Mu Chen said.
“Watch this…” Mu Chen said, gesturing to Xu Shuhan.
Xu Shuhan immediately drew her gun and aimed with lightning speed at two zombies on the periphery, hitting one of them in the knee.
The zombie stumbled forward and immediately collided with the one in front of it.
Stimulated by the impact and the blood, the other zombie instantly turned around and started tearing into its unfortunate kin, quickly sending an arm flying into the air. The zombie’s half-body crazily spewed blood, and in the blink of an eye, the ground was stained red.
The surrounding zombies began to stir, and the one-eyed zombie also smelled the blood, turning its head to look over.
Xu Shuhan quickly dodged to the side to avoid detection by the one-eyed zombie, as the vision of zombies can be quite terrifying.
But her evasion was timely; though the one-eyed zombie glanced in her direction, it noticed nothing.
“Roar!”
After a roar, it leapt over and upon landing, it threw all the other zombies tearing into the fallen one clear away.
The two zombies still entangled with each other, one was kicked by the one-eyed zombie and hit the wall hard, while the other was lifted and ripped in two.
Blood and viscera drenched it from head to toe, making the one-eyed zombie look even more horrifying and terrifying.
After exhibiting extreme violence, it tensed its body again and let out another furious roar.
The other zombies, which had gone into a frenzy due to the blood, seemed as if they were shocked by the roar, and instantly quieted down.
Suddenly, the scene turned eerily silent, and behind the window, the atmosphere became strangely tense…