Chapter 573 – Killing Two Birds with One Stone
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Ye Kai’s technique for throwing the flying knife might sound simple, but the key lies in the twist of his wrist and the subtle strength he employs. The knife spins through the air, strikes the ground precisely, and then bounces back in a different direction, returning to his hand. This seemingly modest use of his special ability is incredibly effective when it comes to luring zombies.
Another use for the flying knife had been suggested by Ling Mo: to distract an enemy’s vision and attention, combined with his swift knife skills, it can have an unexpectedly effective outcome.
Ye Kai has given his special ability a fitting name: Blade Dance. He describes it as blades dancing in a rain of blood. However, Ling Mo thinks it could also be interpreted as dancing on the tip of a blade—a fair comparison, considering Ye Kai’s speedy hand movements. In reality, Ling Mo’s own footwork is also extremely graceful and nimble, perfectly capturing the essence of speed.
With a single flying knife, Ye Kai managed to distract the majority of the zombies. After making a hand signal, Zhang Xincheng, who had been ready to move, immediately dashed out.
His method of moving was quite special; he started by seriously lifting his arms and then placed his hands on the nearby wall, swiftly scaling it.
In the blink of an eye, he was clinging to the high wall like a gecko, and had it not been seen with one’s own eyes, one might have thought there was no movement at all.
Ling Mo knew that the Gecko ability wasn’t just about wall climbing, but like Skinny Monkey, Zhang Xincheng’s close combat capabilities were quite weak.
With this special ability, however, his chances of survival were significantly enhanced.
Skinny Monkey closed his eyes again, allowing him to focus his energy more intensely.
Wind Listener might seem like a straightforward ability, but it’s not that easy in practice.
Under normal conditions, Skinny Monkey’s ears are no different from an average person’s. It’s only when he activates his ability that his hearing is greatly amplified.
Sounds that are usually imperceptible to the average human could theoretically be caught by Skinny Monkey. At this stage, though, the range of sounds he can detect remains limited, but even so, the onset of his ability still brings an overwhelming sense of discomfort.
Minute sounds that would normally go unnoticed flood into his ears in that instant. To discern the desired sound from the mult.i.tude of strange and chaotic noises, and to judge its direction and distance, is clearly no simple task.
And that’s to say nothing of the challenge it presents under such tense circ.u.mstances. The success of his first attempt, along with the trust placed in him by Ling Mo and Ye Kai, had given Skinny Monkey a significant boost in confidence.
This time, he entered his focused state more quickly than before, and the cold sweat on his forehead was less apparent. Though still shaking, he wasn’t trembling as violently as before.
“Twelve o’clock,” Skinny Monkey announced the direction.
Zhang Xincheng immediately sprang into action, scurrying along the wall towards the twelve o’clock direction. Sure enough, he spotted a zombie that had just wandered into a corner of the wall.
Zhang Xincheng was pleasantly surprised by this result, because as he arrived, the zombie was just about to turn around.
Although zombies have a strong olfactory capability, Zhang Xincheng always tries to eliminate his body odor before he moves. Plus, when he’s mid-air and the wind is strong, it’s difficult for zombies to smell him.
Now that they can’t even see him, it’s even easier for Zhang Xincheng to complete his actions.
Suddenly, Zhang Xincheng changed direction, with his head down and feet up, and quickly climbed towards the base of the wall.
Just as he was about to reach the zombie, a razor blade appeared in his hand.
With a swift move, and just as the zombie became aware of him, Zhang Xincheng had already slashed the creature’s trachea and quickly climbed back up.
The zombie bled very little from the neck and initially tried to jump up to follow Zhang Xincheng, even attempting to climb the wall.
But soon, it found breathing becoming difficult.
With its mouth open, the zombie futilely scratched the wall, its sharp fingernails leaving cracks, but a few minutes later, it collapsed.
After cutting its trachea, Zhang Xincheng had already moved on to the next target.
“Two o’clock,” Skinny Monkey’s voice came through.
Using this method, Ye Kai and Zhang Xincheng cooperated with each other, and in less than ten minutes, they had cleared all the remaining zombies in the area.
There was little blood on the ground, and they had made almost no noise, a result that pleased Ling Mo.
He wasn’t trying to create a squad that would grapple with zombies to the death. With so many zombies, and still breeding, how could one grapple with them all?
Humanity needs development and survival, not to spend all day thinking about how many zombies they can kill.
Before the Disaster Outbreak, the global population had nearly reached eight billion. According to the average speculation of most people Ling Mo had come into contact with, there might only be about ten million humans left, but how many zombies and Mutated Beasts are there? It’s hard to estimate.
Just by numbers, humanity no longer has a foothold on this planet. But as long as they live one more day, humans will strive for survival.
And survival is a completely different matter from grappling to the death.
The biggest advantage humans have now is the ability to use the remnants of civilization left from before the Disaster Outbreak.
Although many things are starting to run short, such as food or some shelf life products, many other things are still readily available. But what those places look like now and whether they’re still worth searching can only be determined after someone has gone to look.
By training this squad, Ling Mo essentially created his own intelligence team. Since it’s an intelligence team, their survival and pathfinding abilities must be strong.
“If zombies could be trained, it would be much more convenient than humans…” Ling Mo couldn’t help but think.
“Okay, you’ve already become familiar with the coordination, next time I want to see the speed increase. Seven minutes, too slow, we’ve only advanced less than a hundred meters,” Mu Chen said from the side.
However, after saying this, he immediately regretted it.
“d.a.m.n! Occupational disease! Why do I always end up working for him…” Mu Chen was frustrated.
But Ling Mo praised his att.i.tude: “You’re very professional.”
“Don’t praise me…” Mu Chen was conflicted upon hearing Ling Mo’s words – it made him feel even more foolish, especially since he actually disliked the guy.
“I’m encouraging you, keep it up,” Ling Mo said honestly.
“d.a.m.n it!!” Mu Chen was infuriated. Was this guy still not satisfied?
For this ragtag team to have worked so well together on their first try was all thanks to his coordination, and yet Ling Mo had the audacity to tell him to do more?
That was just intolerable!
Grinding his teeth in anger, Mu Chen then turned and vented his frustration.
“Ye Kai, you could have moved faster at the beginning, thrown the knife further, and attracted more zombies. Why did you hesitate?” Mu Chen demanded.
“I…”
Just as Ye Kai began to speak, Mu Chen, in a towering rage, cut him off: “What have I told you? Watch your teammates! Look at Skinny Monkey; he’s fighting hard, right? When you’re on a mission, your teammates give it their all so that you can perform at your best and complete the task. But your half-hearted effort is unacceptable. Don’t you think you owe Skinny Monkey an apology?”
“Huh?” Ye Kai’s defiant and annoying expression returned instantly. He respected only Ling Mo; as for Mu Chen, a newcomer to Team F, why would he give him the time of day if not for Ling Mo’s instructions?
The atmosphere suddenly became tense, with Ye Kai looking provocatively at Mu Chen, and Mu Chen glaring back fiercely.
“Cough cough…” Ling Mo coughed twice from the sidelines.
After a glance at Ling Mo and some reluctance, Ye Kai finally deflated.
“Monkey, I won’t doubt you next time…” Ye Kai grumbled, turning his head away.
“Where’s the apology?” Mu Chen pressed.
“Sorry.” After stewing in his frustration for a while, Ye Kai quickly finished and then glared viciously at Mu Chen as he pa.s.sed by.
Skinny Monkey looked completely stunned. The troublemaker was apologizing to him? Was he hearing this right?
“No… it’s not necessary…” It took Skinny Monkey a few seconds to react, then he frantically waved his hands and shook his head.
Ye Kai, still annoyed, turned to look at him, and seeing Skinny Monkey reflexively step back, startled, he felt a bit helpless…
“I…” Ye Kai’s lips moved faintly, and then in an almost inaudible voice, he said, “It’s only right.”
“He actually listened…” Ling Mo was somewhat surprised as he glanced at Ye Kai and then at Mu Chen.
Indeed, bringing him to work was the right decision. Mu Chen had a real knack for this! And besides… having him deal with the difficult people allowed Ling Mo to stay on the sidelines and be the good “spiritual” team leader.
Two birds with one stone!