Chapter 657 – Just Scare Them
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However, Song Jinsen didn’t seem to be intentionally hiding anything. Pus.h.i.+ng him further obviously wouldn’t yield any other results.
As everyone fell silent, the atmosphere instantly grew tense.
Sweat drenched Song Jinsen’s forehead, and his arm trembled slightly. It seemed like he sensed something. He opened his mouth to speak: “Don’t…”
Before he could finish, his expression froze suddenly.
A bullet wound appeared in the center of his forehead, and he fell backward.
Thud!
Seeing Song Jinsen’s body collapse at his feet, Mu Chen couldn’t help but take a step back.
He glanced at Ling Mo in surprise and asked, “Why did he suddenly…”
Ling Mo squatted down silently, grabbed Song Jinsen’s arm, and flipped it over, revealing his finger on the trigger. “He wasn’t entirely compliant.”
“Still had a thief’s heart,” Mu Chen murmured, his mouth twitching.
“He knew he wouldn’t survive and didn’t want to wait for death. It’s a normal mindset,” Ling Mo said as he started searching the body.
In his search, he found a pile of irrelevant items.
The only useful things were two packs of cigarettes and a postcard-like piece of hard paper.
“Dahua again…”
Mu Chen’s eyes lit up as he stared at the cigarettes. “These used to be quite expensive, right? How did he manage to get these… Imagine what the higher-ups at headquarters must be enjoying…”
For a moment, he seemed to understand Song Jinsen’s mindset. People are inherently hard to satisfy. In this environment, only stronger desires are born, and people fight to fulfill them.
It sounds meaningless, but many find joy in it.
“Catch,” Ling Mo said, tossing one of the cigarette packs to Mu Chen while pocketing the other.
Mu Chen caught it with a delighted expression. “You’re willing to give me one?”
“I have no strong preferences for cigarettes. It’s nice to have them, but it’s fine if I don’t,” Ling Mo replied casually. “Besides, smoking too much will make you smell like smoke and attract Zombies.”
“Hey, besides surviving, you’ve got to have some pursuits,” Mu Chen said eagerly as he pulled out a cigarette. After a brief hesitation, he added, “Thanks, boss.”
“Call me captain,” Ling Mo replied, s.h.i.+fting his attention to the card.
“Okay…” Mu Chen nodded.
As the card was flipped over, a line of text came into view.
Standing behind them, Li Yalin read it out slowly, “Mission Level: S. Mission Content: Help Number 1 reach its full form without damaging its body. Note: Full form criteria — body strength reaches the highest level of a normal Zombie and it can fully obey commands to use its Superpower. Failure to achieve the mission content will not result in punishment.”
“What is this? It sounds strange,” Xia Na asked curiously.
Ye Lian, holding Xu Shuhan’s hand, also leaned in to look.
“A mission from Niepan headquarters,” Ling Mo explained.
Hearing it from Song Jinsen was one thing, but seeing it firsthand gave a more vivid impression.
A well-structured compet.i.tive mechanism, efficient operation through mission a.s.signments, and the resultant motivation of its members… Ling Mo’s interest in the mysterious leader behind Niepan grew. Who could this person be to establish such a force so quickly?
In terms of personnel, Niepan couldn’t compare to Falcon Camp with its military background. But in terms of order and compet.i.tiveness, Niepan completely outcla.s.sed Falcon.
These two places were the largest Survivor Camps Ling Mo had encountered, but in comparison, Niepan was clearly superior.
With such a mechanism, Niepan’s future development was already a.s.sured.
“With this, no one can say what really happened here,” Ling Mo said, standing up.
He turned his gaze to Mu Chen, “And no one will expose you.”
“What you’re planning to have me do…” Mu Chen’s expression grew complicated. He had a vague sense of what it might be.
But what kind of madman would actually consider doing this…
“Given your position, once you escape to headquarters, blending in temporarily shouldn’t be a problem. Even if they suspect something, it will take them a long time to verify the information. During that time, they won’t do anything to you,” Ling Mo said.
Mu Chen scratched his head and replied, “But not all the people from the branch are dead…”
“Make a bit of noise to scare them, and most will run far away. Even if they just hide in this city, it will take a long time for them to find them,” Ling Mo said calmly. “They don’t know where headquarters is, and even if they want to find it, they won’t be able to.”
Mu Chen looked conflicted. “What exactly do you mean by ‘a bit’?”
“All you need to do is buy us some time. You don’t need to do much,” Ling Mo quickly added.
“Hey, don’t just brush it off like that!” Mu Chen protested.
“Rest for tonight. We’ll set off tomorrow,” Ling Mo said, then turned his attention to Xu Shuhan.
She was still in the midst of her transformation, caught in that critical moment between change and stability.
Most of the time, she was in a state of mental confusion, occasionally having brief moments of clarity.
When the Virus inside her reached a decisive point or fused together, Xu Shuhan would fully transform.
In the short term, all Ling Mo could do was monitor her mental state. If any issues arose, he would quickly supplement her with more Virus to disrupt the balance again.
However, this method wasn’t guaranteed to work, and Xu Shuhan could still transform at any moment.
But with Ye Lian and the others guarding her, there was no worry about her hurting anyone if she suddenly turned violent.
Seeing the nearby fire growing brighter and the air filled with an unpleasant burnt smell, Ling Mo quickly urged the group to leave.
As they were leaving, Mu Chen, still somewhat confused, asked, “Aren’t you going to scare them?”
Ling Mo just smiled slightly and said, “I’ve already scared them.”
“Huh?” Mu Chen was puzzled. What did he mean by that?
…
“Ahhh! Help!”
On a street near the back door of a building, two people were running for their lives.
Both of them had pale faces, as if they had been severely frightened.
One of them kept looking back while running, and the other asked in terror, “How is it? Is it still chasing us?”
“No… I don’t think so!”
The end of the street was empty, without a shadow in sight.
Relieved, they slowed down and eventually stopped.
“Let’s rest, I’m about to pa.s.s out,” one said, bending over with hands on knees, gasping for breath.
The other kept nervously glancing around and asked, “What on earth was that monster?”
“How should I know? But we definitely can’t mess with it…” the first one panted, “And judging by the sounds we heard, things didn’t look good back there. I bet they’re in trouble.”
“Good point.” The nervous one turned back and immediately widened his eyes in shock.
His mouth dropped open, and he stared in horror at something behind his companion, his legs suddenly feeling weak.
The other man held his breath and slowly turned his eyes sideways, catching a glimpse of something behind him.
A flash of white entered his vision, and a ma.s.sive black shadow completely enveloped his own shadow.
This ma.s.sive black figure had countless long, swaying hairs, making it look incredibly terrifying at first glance.
“Gulp.”
Nervously swallowing, he slowly turned his gaze forward again.
The two exchanged a glance, then simultaneously shouted and took off running.
They didn’t look back, sprinting with astonis.h.i.+ng speed, disappearing quickly down the street.
Back where they had just stood, the black shadow remained motionless.
“Alright, Xiao Bai, that’s enough,” a girl’s voice came from the shadow.
The shadow finally moved, and the silver threads on its head retracted immediately.
“Great job, Xiao Bai. You scared them off so quickly,” the girl praised.
“MeGu!” the shadow, identified as Xiao Bai, responded softly.
As the ma.s.sive shadow stepped into the moonlight, a giant Mutation Panda carrying a little girl came into full view.
But those two had already run far away, missing this sight entirely…