Chapter 749: You Tricked Me!
As the heart of Niepan headquarters, this place exuded a strange atmosphere at every turn.
Initially, Ling Mo thought those cubicles were for storing files or for office use, but upon closer inspection, he discovered that they were actually filled with walls of doc.u.ments.
Messy photos and densely packed text explanations covered the walls. In one of the cubicles, Ling Mo even saw a fairly fresh Zombie corpse with a leaf-shaped knife sticking out near the neck.
What stood out the most was the blood-stained note attached to the knife: “Note, to be continued.”
Ling Mo couldn’t help but twitch the corner of his mouth. This wasn’t like finis.h.i.+ng a doc.u.ment and randomly tossing a pen onto the paper!
“Is his name Jack?” Ling Mo couldn’t help but ask.
Lan Lan shook her head, surprised. “Of course not…”
The two carefully navigated for a full two minutes before arriving at another security door.
“This can’t be opened from the outside…” Lan Lan said cautiously, “So we have to let him…”
Before she could finish her sentence, she watched in disbelief as a hand reached out from her side and knocked directly on the door.
“Knock, knock, knock!”
As the knocking sounded, Lan Lan felt like she was about to lose her mind.
Was this really a Zombie?!
Couldn’t she get a chance to bluff a little? It was her mistake for not being careful earlier; couldn’t she get a chance to make up for it?
What frustrated Lan Lan the most was that Ling Mo seemed to always grasp the key points of her words directly… This wasn’t the kind of thinking pattern a Zombie should have!
However surprised she was, Lan Lan didn’t doubt Ling Mo’s ident.i.ty.
After all, from his appearance, he was indeed a Zombie. If she had to find a reason, it was probably because his Brain Mutant was exceptionally impressive…
“Knock…”
Seeing no response from inside and Ling Mo about to knock again, Lan Lan couldn’t help but speak up, “Um… he might still be mad at me, so…”
Ling Mo remained unmoved and continued knocking.
Lan Lan bit her lip, “How about I call out for him to help you…”
As soon as she finished speaking, she eagerly prepared to shout, her eyes flas.h.i.+ng with a mix of nervousness and excitement.
“…I’m back…”
Just as she began to shout, Lan Lan felt a hand suddenly tighten around her neck, and the rest of her words were caught in her throat.
Opening her mouth futilely, producing only a choking sound, she watched as Ling Mo knocked on the door twice more. Lan Lan instantly felt a chill run down her spine.
This Zombie… was actually using her!
He had clearly seen through her little schemes, but neither exposed them nor stopped her.
As soon as Lan Lan shouted, his purpose was achieved, and naturally, he wouldn’t allow her to continue.
Lan Lan believed that if she had said anything other than what she did, Ling Mo would have prevented her from making any sound at all.
In fact, Lan Lan was indeed trying to send a message. She hadn’t found an opportunity along the way, and knocking on the door presented the best chance so far.
To confuse Ling Mo, she deliberately started with a more normal opening line to make it seem more genuine, but she ended up falling into her own trap instead!
Nothing could be more frustrating!
Ling Mo’s persistent knocking and Lan Lan’s shout eventually got the attention of the person inside.
“Click.”
As the door suddenly opened, Lan Lan couldn’t help but bite her lip, while Ling Mo displayed a slight smile.
Finally, they were in…
Ling Mo reached out and pushed the door, which slowly slid open, revealing a messy little suite.
“Hmm?”
This was not what he had imagined…
Where was the person who opened the door? Where did they go?
Looking back, he noticed that the door was indeed semi-automatic. There must be a b.u.t.ton inside to open it…
“Alright, this works too.”
Just as Ling Mo pushed Lan Lan a step inside, a strange smell wafted out of the room.
As it entered his nostrils, the movements of the Zombie Puppet seemed to slow down considerably, and a strong will to resist suddenly emerged.
Ling Mo immediately felt as if his psychic tentacle had entered a swamp, making control much more difficult.
The source of the Interference that slowed down Zombies’ reactions was right here!
At this moment, Lan Lan suddenly raised her elbow and struck hard at Ling Mo’s waist.
She had intended to hit his armpit, but her height only allowed her to reach his waist…
Under these circ.u.mstances, her reaction speed was much faster than Ling Mo’s. With this sudden effort, her chances of escaping were significantly higher.
By the time Ling Mo wanted to strangle her, his body had already instinctively loosened its grip due to the pain.
“Clearly, you’re still up to no good!”
Ling Mo had been on guard against Lan Lan the entire time, but he hadn’t antic.i.p.ated that she would create such a perfect opportunity for herself.
However, just as he didn’t foresee this, Lan Lan couldn’t have imagined that this Zombie had abilities beyond mere physical prowess.
Even though the psychic tentacle was slower, it was still much quicker than a physical reaction. Just as Lan Lan’s elbow was about to make contact with the Zombie Puppet, the psychic tentacle struck her psychic light cl.u.s.ter heavily.
What Lan Lan didn’t expect was that in this critical moment, her vision would suddenly go black. Even though it was just for an instant, it was enough to change the outcome.
“It’s over…” Lan Lan thought to herself…
The suite was also divided into an Inner Room and an Outer Room, and even had a Restroom.
The Outer Room housed a desk littered with various papers and books strewn all over the floor. There was even a single bed placed in the corner.
The Inner Room was separated by a frosted gla.s.s door and was currently silent.
Through the gla.s.s door, Ling Mo could vaguely see a hunched figure bending over, completely motionless at first glance.
“Click, click, click…”
As the room door slowly opened, the first thing Ling Mo saw was an experimental station.
At that moment, the station was cluttered with various items, and a man with graying hair was meticulously working on something with intense concentration.
It was clear that this man was the perverse genius they had heard about…
Judging by his physique, he was as skinny as a bamboo stick. His cheeks were deeply sunken, making him look about forty to fifty years old.
In a crowd, this man could easily be mistaken for some kind of exhibitionist. His fervent gaze, the excited but slightly twisted expression, the scruffy beard, and the delicate way he handled the experimental subject… Especially when he raised the tweezers to his nose and inhaled deeply with a look of intoxication, Ling Mo almost replaced the item in his tweezers with some aromatic object in his mind…
“Wait, he just looks a bit unpleasant; you can’t judge a book by its cover… But seriously, how does he even resemble Jack?”
Ling Mo didn’t recklessly enter the room. To prevent any surprises, he placed one foot against the door and then pulled the pale and defeated Lan Lan in front of him, shouting with authority, “Hey!”
The Researcher was absorbed in his sniffing, and when he heard the shout from the door, he didn’t even lift his head. Instead, he just waved his free hand and said, “Quiet.”
“…” Ling Mo was equally stunned. This was the first time he had encountered such a workaholic. A stranger’s voice appeared in his secret Laboratory, and the guy didn’t even notice!
This man was not just a genius but also a complete lunatic!
This made Ling Mo feel awkward, and Lan Lan was even more embarra.s.sed, wis.h.i.+ng she could just bang her head against the wall. Come on, at least look back!
Although Ling Mo had a hostage, he was momentarily at a loss for what to say.
Several seconds pa.s.sed before the Researcher finally paused.
It was as if he suddenly realized something. After a brief moment of confusion, he slowly turned his head.
At the instant their eyes met, the Researcher still had a completely puzzled look on his face.
Only when he saw Lan Lan, held by Ling Mo, did the Researcher suddenly understand, and he widened his eyes in shock.
However, this scene clearly went beyond his comprehension, so his lips trembled for a long time, but he couldn’t utter a single word.
“Uh…”
Ling Mo scratched his nose to break the silence. “I’ve captured her.”
The Researcher’s eyes bulged as he processed this information and then nodded.
“You’d better stay still too,” Ling Mo continued.
Before speaking, he had already scanned the room and noticed multiple Alarms.
However, he didn’t expect the Researcher to react so dramatically and seem to have no crisis handling ability at all…
“If I had known, I would have just knocked on the door and announced that I had Lan Lan and told him to come out and surrender,” Ling Mo couldn’t help but think.
The Researcher hesitated for a moment, then slowly nodded, “But…”
Just then, he suddenly slapped his hand on the table, and a large amount of grey gas sprayed out from a faucet.
The gas appeared abruptly, enveloping the entire room in the blink of an eye.
After doing this, the Researcher’s lips curled into a slight smile, and his gaze toward Ling Mo s.h.i.+fted from horror to curiosity.
With the release of the gas, he seemed to become extremely confident, as if Ling Mo was now trapped with no way out.
“These two really share the same temperament!” Ling Mo immediately realized that the Researcher wasn’t lacking in crisis response skills; he was simply a superb actor!
After seeing his companion captured by a Zombie, he still managed to put on such a convincing act discretely. That level of composure was truly terrifying!
But now wasn’t the time for reflection-evidently, this grey gas wasn’t anything good, or else the Researcher wouldn’t be grinning like a cunning old fox.
Ling Mo quickly pulled Lan Lan back, but the Researcher still wore an expression full of confidence.
“What? Could inhaling just a little bit of this gas be enough to take someone down?” Ling Mo wondered.
However, several seconds pa.s.sed, and Ling Mo still didn’t feel any unusual effects.
On the contrary, he seemed to handle Lan Lan with even less effort than before…
“Could it be that it takes a few minutes to kick in? That’s unlikely, right?” Ling Mo pondered suspiciously.
Seeing that Ling Mo was continuing to retreat, the smile on the Researcher’s face finally froze.
Lan Lan, being held by the scruff of her neck, looked at the Researcher in astonishment, her expression unmistakable: “You tricked me!”