Chapter 697: Talent Is Not the Point
Knock, knock, knock—
Ling Mo slowly walked over to the wall and knocked on it.
He used quite a bit of force, but his knuckles only felt a slight sting.
This collective enhancement among the female zombies had indeed brought him considerable benefits.
Even though he had walked right into this trap, Ling Mo wasn’t panicking.
His main concern was still Yu s.h.i.+ran…
As the knocking sound echoed, the wall gently vibrated.
Being in someone else’s trap, there’s no need to be overly cautious; for all he knew, they might be watching him right now…
“It’s solid…”
Ling Mo rubbed his fingers, confirming the tactile sensation was real.
Nearby, the little Zombie Puppet also paused as he knocked on the wall, pressing its ear against it.
“Yes, the Zombie Puppet can sense the vibrations, which means we are indeed in the same place… But if the goal was to isolate me, why wasn’t the connection between me and the Zombie Puppet cut off?”
Ling Mo thought for a moment, then shook his head.
There were too few clues to draw any conclusions, and it wasn’t worth wasting time on this right now.
However, Ling Mo carefully noted each question in his mind; they might prove useful later.
As for why the other party would do this… there were too many reasons.
The most straightforward one was probably to steal supplies…
Although all the truly important items his group had were with Xiao Bai, it was enough to say that the Thor in Ye Lian’s hands would make many survivors drool with envy.
They wouldn’t care whether they could use it or not; they would seize it first. After all, most people had to make do with melee weapons…
Firearms weren’t impossible to find, but finding ones with silencers was exceedingly difficult…
Moreover, scavenging in the city carried immense risks, no matter what you were looking for, and not everyone was willing to risk their lives.
Additionally, having a backpack for each person wasn’t something an average survivor group could manage.
Backpacks weren’t hard to find, but filling them with useful items was the challenge.
Despite most city buildings still standing intact, human survival resources had become scarce after just a few months.
Broken packaging, expired food, grain contaminated by various filth, and c.o.c.kroaches and rats that thrived in supermarket food sections…
In the past, when these creatures weren’t yet infected by the Virus, humans might have still considered their damaged food edible, but now, seeing those red eyes, who would dare eat it…
Ling Mo still couldn’t figure out how they managed to survive, but once these pervasive little creatures emerged, resources became even scarcer.
The only places capable of producing food were large camps.
However, even in large camps, food was probably not enough to go around…
Surviving was really tough…
“If this is a robbery, then you just picked the wrong target.”
Ling Mo pressed his hand against the wall, and his Psychic Tentacle quietly extended, slowly penetrating the wall.
Although the tentacle was invisible, penetrating obstacles significantly increased the energy consumption.
However, Ling Mo no longer cared about this minor expenditure, but without any Virus restorative potions on him, it was better to be cautious. One tentacle to probe the reality would suffice.
As the tentacle emerged on the other side of the wall, a strange light flashed in Ling Mo’s eyes.
The other party probably didn’t expect him to have this ability…
But then, Ling Mo’s expression suddenly changed.
“What’s going on?”
Under his mental control, the tentacle was flailing on the other side of the wall, continuously extending.
But… he hadn’t found the next obstacle!
“Wait… maybe it’s the street outside…”
Ling Mo quickly directed the tentacle downward, plunging it.
Immediately, Ling Mo’s expression turned ghostly.
This was impossible!
Unless he was in a high-rise building, this probe should have reached the ground!
But he knew very well that he had entered from the stairwell, and it had only taken him two or three minutes to search slowly. The nearest high-rise was across the street; how could he have gotten there?
Whether it was an illusion or something else, it was based on the opponent’s Psychic Power.
No matter how strong the opponent’s Psychic Power was, it couldn’t have made him climb a high-rise without him noticing…
Just like Ling Mo, who trained his Psychic Power almost twenty-four hours a day and also had the ability to devour.
But he didn’t spend all his time trying to devour zombies because having Psychic Power alone wasn’t enough; he also needed sufficient willpower.
In other words, it wasn’t just about flooding the pond with a water hose. The pond itself had to be st.u.r.dy enough and needed to be expanded.
And the difficulty of this project was much higher…
The main reason Ling Mo’s Psychic Power was stronger than that of the average survivor was that he was always controlling Zombie Puppets, constantly training himself. This wasn’t something just anyone could do.
Simply put, Ling Mo was always in a life-and-death situation.
If he got too relaxed, the Psychic Link could break.
Especially with Xiao Bai and Yu s.h.i.+ran—one was a purely wild Mutation Beast, full of wild instincts.
The other had an abnormal mental state; just maintaining the link with her was more challenging than with Ye Lian and the others, and she was always thinking about escaping…
In this situation, Ling Mo’s willpower naturally became more and more resolute…
However, the current situation was indeed too unexpected, and Ling Mo couldn’t help but frown.
His Superpower, Puppet Control, wasn’t based on the strength of his physical body.
But through his own efforts, he had turned what could have been a “weak body” type of superpower user, who would hide in a corner and rely on Zombie Puppets to fight and gather resources, into his current state.
It had to be said that purely in terms of talent, Ling Mo’s superpower was only average.
Even if others awakened this superpower, they wouldn’t bother leveling up their Zombie Puppets, let alone protecting them—that would be putting the cart before the horse…
After all, if a Zombie Puppet died, they could just get another one…
Compared to those mental ability superpower users who could create illusions and even influence people’s minds, Ling Mo’s superpower seemed inferior.
“But so what? Without Puppet Control, I wouldn’t be able to stay with Ye Lian and the others… This superpower is the most suitable for me. Whether it’s an illusion or something else, as long as we’re still in that same s.p.a.ce, the range is fixed.”
With this thought, Ling Mo took a deep breath and calmed himself down.
He began to recall the specific structure of this employee pa.s.sage…
Because he had psychic detection abilities and knew there were no zombies in this pa.s.sage, Ling Mo had led the group straight through the main corridor without carefully searching every corner.
Now that he thought about it, there was probably a side path that led to the surveillance room. Ling Mo had only shone his flashlight in that direction briefly.
There were also restrooms and some storage rooms.
The doors to those rooms were open, and there wasn’t anything worth searching for inside.
The main corridor itself was essentially a “Z” shape, with two or three turns, one end connected to the stairs and the other to the exit.
“If someone were to choose, they wouldn’t pick a complicated environment…”
By now, Ling Mo had completely calmed down. He had encountered many different types of superpowers, and even among mental abilities, they didn’t all behave the same. Such unusual occurrences weren’t worth panicking over.
Fighting against superpower users was all about who revealed their cards the quickest—the faster someone was exposed, the sooner they would be defeated.
The small Zombie Puppet continued to walk along the wall, leaving a trail of blood.
Since they were still in the same s.p.a.ce, the scent of blood should serve as a strong guide…
“It’s unlikely Ye Lian and the others will smell it, but Yu s.h.i.+ran should be able to… If Mu Chen is also trapped here, he’ll probably try to bandage his wound, which would cut off Yu s.h.i.+ran’s way of finding him.”
As Ling Mo thought about this, he didn’t stop moving.
He was currently walking back along the memory of the route, with his eyes closed.
His vision might be disturbed, and his mind might be influenced, so this method was a good way to test things…
“Why haven’t they come back yet?” Xu Shuhan asked, glancing inside the mall.
She turned to look at Ye Lian and the others, who were huddled together, chatting about something.
“I wonder if zombies know how to care…” Xu Shuhan couldn’t help but think.
At that moment, Xia Na lifted her head, closed her eyes to sense something, then opened them and said, “It’s nothing, he’s still over there, probably still searching.”