Chapter 691: The Truth Always Brings Tears
“Whew…”
After pa.s.sing through the greenery, the group quickly darted into a building. Mu Chen, who was at the back, hurriedly slammed the iron door shut and leaned against it, panting heavily.
With a flushed face and bulging neck, he looked at Ling Mo, who was standing opposite him, and grumbled, “How come we’ve been running for so long and you don’t look exhausted at all…”
“Your stamina is too poor,” Ling Mo said calmly, wiping a thin layer of sweat off his forehead.
“But I’m an enhancer…” Mu Chen felt incredibly frustrated. As an enhancer Superpower user, he was completely outcla.s.sed in stamina by someone with a mental ability.
It was absurd!
Unfortunately, the reality was right in front of him. Not only did he have to accept that he was weaker than Ling Mo, but he also had to accept another harsh truth…
In the entire team, he was the weakest.
“What now?” Mu Chen finally caught his breath and asked.
“We’ve finally shaken off those zombies, so let’s rest here for a while.” As Ling Mo spoke, he clicked on his flashlight, s.h.i.+ning it behind him.
This iron door was clearly just a back door, leading to a dimly lit corridor.
As the flashlight beam swept across, a silhouette appeared at the top of the corridor, startling Xu Shuhan into grabbing Ye Lian’s arm and hiding behind her with a scream.
Mu Chen’s scalp tingled as he quickly pressed himself against the wall.
Ling Mo, on the other hand, was startled by Xu Shuhan’s reaction. He turned to look at her and said, “Shh, it’s just a dead body…”
He shook his head and muttered, “I’m almost a zombie myself, and yet I’m still afraid of this…”
“I just can’t help it, okay…” Xu Shuhan replied, embarra.s.sed and annoyed.
Her hearing was now at zombie-level sensitivity, so Ling Mo’s comment did nothing to lower his volume.
“Of course you can…”
Ling Mo responded casually, as the flashlight beam illuminated the silhouette.
Even before seeing the corridor’s condition, Ling Mo already knew there were no Psychic Light Cl.u.s.ters here.
So upon seeing the silhouette, Ling Mo remained incredibly calm.
The only ones who overreacted were Xu Shuhan and Mu Chen…
At this moment, upon closer inspection, the silhouette indeed turned out to be just a corpse hanging diagonally from the ceiling. The remains, apart from some tattered cloth, were nothing but a layer of blackened, dried skin.
Mu Chen felt his face flush with embarra.s.sment. He straightened up discreetly and said in a low voice, “Could you give a heads-up next time?”
“If I don’t give a warning, it means there’s nothing to worry about. Do I really need to give a special reminder?” Ling Mo glanced at him and replied.
“How did this body get stuffed into the ceiling?” Ling Mo stared at the corpse for a couple of seconds, then moved the flashlight further down the corridor.
Some dark shadows appeared within the beam’s reach. This time, Xu Shuhan and Mu Chen managed to stay calm.
As they got closer, they saw a few toppled, dust-covered lockers.
“These are the employees’ lockers… Judging by the scale, this must be a mall, right?” Ling Mo shone the light ahead again. Sure enough, not far ahead, he spotted a staircase labeled “Employee Pa.s.sage.”
“Do you want to make do with these clothes?” Ling Mo glanced back at Xu Shuhan, who responded with a glare.
“You’re still being picky at a time like this…” Ling Mo sighed.
Xu Shuhan fumed. Ye Lian and the others weren’t wearing just anything!
Moreover, the mall was just ahead. Why should she settle for these…
Xu Shuhan looked down into the locker, and her face darkened further…
Could that orange plastic vest even be considered clothing? Putting it on wouldn’t cover a thing! And those spiders on it… She might as well go bare!
The group quietly climbed the stairs. They had only climbed a few steps when a female zombie in a skirt suddenly tumbled out from a gap in the stairwell, growling as she lunged straight at Ling Mo.
However, before her long nails could touch Ling Mo, her body abruptly froze mid-fall, and a b.l.o.o.d.y hole appeared on her forehead.
The female zombie’s eyes widened as she dangled upside down in front of the group. Blood trickled down her hairline, dripping onto the floor with a “plop, plop.”
“Can’t you really give a warning?” Mu Chen tried to steady his racing heart, looking at the zombie as Ling Mo slowly lowered it to the ground.
“If we don’t let her ambush us, what if she opens her mouth and starts singing soprano?” Ling Mo shot back with a sidelong glance.
“You’re always so reasonable, aren’t you…” Mu Chen muttered, exasperated.
After the corpse hit the floor, Ling Mo cautiously climbed to the second floor. He turned and waved, saying, “Xia Na, Senior Sister, come over.”
The two female zombies immediately moved closer. Ling Mo hid behind the half-open stairwell door, peeking into the mall: “There are five zombies here, over ten there, and more over there… All in all, there must be at least fifty or sixty on this floor.”
“So many?” Mu Chen exclaimed.
“Of course, every mall is packed with zombies. While you can lure them out in other places, here it’s not possible. If we alert them, even more zombies will surround us.”
As Ling Mo spoke, he turned his gaze to a small window in the stairwell, walked over, and looked down: “There are at least a hundred more on the street. Plus, the first floor of this building is crawling with zombies. And this is just called Section A… There’s a road leading to what seems to be Section B across the way. Roughly estimating, we could be surrounded by five hundred zombies.”
“That’s quite a lot,” Xia Na nodded.
“It’s a ton!” Mu Chen started sweating again. The zombies in this city were particularly troublesome. Fifty were already a challenge; five hundred were a nightmare.
If a few more big guys showed up, they’d be in serious trouble.
“If we’re really unlucky, it could be over a thousand…” Ling Mo continued.
“Maybe… we should leave?” Xu Shuhan hesitated. It was just a piece of clothing; it wasn’t worth risking their lives for it.
“There’s nowhere to hide outside either. The area is too open. I actually think this place is quite good, plus we can gather some supplies.” Ling Mo shook his flashlight, which was now turned off.
“Hey, you’re really just looking for a chance to study them, aren’t you…” Mu Chen grumbled.
“Just don’t give them a chance to make noise, and we’ll be fine…” Ling Mo ignored Mu Chen, moving closer to the door and extending a psychic tentacle into the mall.
In truth, Mu Chen wasn’t wrong. The main reason Ling Mo chose this mall was because the closer he got, the stronger his sense of unease became.
This was probably the largest mall in Cuihu City. Next to it was a convention center, across the street were several restaurants, and there was a large garden nearby. No area had fewer zombies than this place.
But at least this was the central area…
Ling Mo had a vague feeling that he might find something significant here…
The reason Cuihu City was cla.s.sified as a high-risk level might be somewhere nearby.
Still, Ling Mo remained very cautious. He wasn’t planning to take any unnecessary risks.
If it weren’t for his Puppet Control ability, he would have already left with Ye Lian and the others when he sensed this unease.
But having this ability meant he could at least detect danger in advance and have a chance to escape.
At this moment, there were two zombies closest to him: one big and one small.
The big one was wandering among some shelves, while the small one looked like a five or six-year-old girl, though her twisted and grotesque face was nothing but horrifying.
“Don’t move…”
Ling Mo’s tentacle slowly approached, but the little zombie had already wandered behind another shelf, out of Ling Mo’s sight.
The big one was still between the shelves, staring curiously at a pile of slippers.
This one seemed to have some awareness, looking at the slippers with a somewhat curious expression.
“Forget it, this one is more taxing…” Ling Mo compared the psychic light cl.u.s.ters of the big and small zombies, finally deciding to target the smaller one.
With unknown dangers ahead, conserving psychic power was the top priority, even if it was just a little bit. It might come in handy later.
As the psychic tentacle suddenly pierced in, the little zombie’s body stiffened, and her gaze turned vacant.
She slowly turned around, looking at the big zombie, then started to move her feet.
As the little zombie slowly walked toward the big zombie, one of her hands began to open with a “crack.”
Ling Mo glanced back at Xu Shuhan and Mu Chen, seeing that their view was blocked by Xia Na and Li Yalin, and he felt relieved.
Xu Shuhan and Mu Chen had no idea what Ling Mo was up to. From their angle, they could only vaguely see the ceiling of the mall and nothing else.
“Clack…”
The big zombie finally extended its hand, picking up a slipper and examining it curiously.
It slowly opened its mouth and moved closer to the slipper…
“Clack clack…”
The slipper fell back into the basket, and the big zombie looked down at its abdomen.
A small hand had pierced through its stomach, opening up in front of its belly, covered in blood, with bits of flesh seemingly stuck under its nails.
Before the big zombie could react, the little zombie yanked it backward, dragging it toward the shelves behind.
“Thud!”
A few seconds later, with a soft sound, the little zombie emerged alone from behind the shelves.
She glanced in the direction where Ling Mo and the others were hiding, then turned her head to look at the other side of the mall.
Through the various shelves, a few human figures could be seen moving back and forth.
These figures had turned around when the big zombie died, but the little zombie was too quick. After a brief look, they gave up on investigating.
The little zombie wrapped her hand in a piece of torn cloth and slowly approached those figures.
“It’s your turn now, there are about a dozen over there…”
As Ling Mo moved aside, Xia Na and Li Yalin silently slipped in.
“What the…”
Xu Shuhan and Mu Chen widened their eyes. Weren’t there supposed to be zombies everywhere inside?