Chapter 785: Showing Presence
Among all the instincts of zombies, the most prominent one is “eating.” The method Ling Mo used to lure zombies had never failed before.
But unexpectedly, Xu Shuhan’s first reaction upon seeing the virus gel was to let out a terrified scream and then dash into an alley.
“Uh… you really made your disgust quite obvious!”
Ling Mo stood there, awkward and stunned for a second, then quickly lowered himself down.
Descending from the second floor to the ground didn’t take long, but naturally, he couldn’t match Xu Shuhan’s speed.
By the time he rushed into the alley, it was already empty.
“Are you kidding me? Why did the decoy run away even faster after being put down…”
Ling Mo slapped his forehead and quickly got in touch with Black Silk.
Luck wasn’t on his side; just as he made contact, it happened to be when Black Silk was in control.
As soon as he heard the deep, meaningful laugh echoing in his mind, Ling Mo couldn’t help but feel a chill down his spine.
“Hehehe…” Black Silk’s voice was still as awkward as ever, sounding like a pre-recorded tape, with a hint of a glitch.
“…Never mind, I’ll cut to the chase… I need you all to help me with something now. If you can surround and intercept her from your direction, we can trap her… Wait, what are you doing in Yu s.h.i.+ran’s body?” Ling Mo had just said two sentences before suddenly realizing what was happening and asked.
He had just switched his viewpoint and hadn’t paid much attention while he was talking…
But when he looked again, wasn’t this a mirror in front of him!
And in the mirror, Yu s.h.i.+ran was striking a pose!
“Don’t make a fuss, I just thought wearing cat ears or something would help me show my presence, like announcing sovereignty… As a human, you should understand, right?” The “Yu s.h.i.+ran” in the mirror calmly raised a hand to show the headband on her head and gave a thumbs-up to the mirror.
“What do cat ears have to do with you!” Ling Mo said, speechless.
While talking, he had already ventured deeper into the alley, and several tentacles were exploring the surroundings.
Although there was no psychic link established between Ling Mo and Xu Shuhan, her psychic light cl.u.s.ter was quite distinctive.
It possessed both human and zombie characteristics, which was quite rare.
Even Ling Mo’s psychic light cl.u.s.ter was predominantly human.
“You really are a boring master… If I wanted, evolving into a cat wouldn’t be that difficult.” “Yu s.h.i.+ran” said smugly.
“And yet you ended up evolving into that state,” Ling Mo took the chance to mock her.
“You lack the eye for beauty…”
She beckoned towards the shadows behind her, and soon enough, the mutation panda waddled over with its inward-turned paws.
In just one day, the mutation panda seemed to have gotten even plumper, looking more like a furball now…
Probably knowing that Ling Mo was around, Xiao Bai spun around happily, only to predictably knock down a series of clothes racks.
“So, are we marking targets? Full service of chase, capture, and clean-up…” “Yu s.h.i.+ran” lightly hopped onto Xiao Bai’s back and said with a wide grin.
“We’re looking for someone…”
“Tch…”
“Keep that dissatisfaction to yourself!” Ling Mo said angrily.
However, he couldn’t help but feel a bit worried-Black Silk was behaving more intelligently by the day. Was this really a good thing?
On the other hand, Ling Mo sensed that there seemed to be something unusual in its psychic fluctuation…
“Unfortunately, I can’t delve deeper.” Ling Mo thought with slight regret.
He initially wanted to call out Ye Lian and the others, but considering the threat from Niepan headquarters, he temporarily abandoned the idea.
Moreover, he didn’t want to blow things out of proportion. Lan Lan was easy to fool, but Old Lan was not so easily dealt with.
Besides, if he alerted Mu Chen, that guy would probably also insist on coming along…
In fact, Ling Mo was still pondering what to do once Xu Shuhan woke up.
He didn’t expect another problem to arise before he could figure that out…
“Why did she run in the first place?” Ling Mo wondered.
On a narrow street, Xu Shuhan was sprinting ahead.
Her movements were somewhat clumsy, yet her speed was astonis.h.i.+ng.
A few zombies were drawn by the commotion she caused and lunged out from the corners.
“Ah!”
Xu Shuhan was instantly startled and instinctively reached behind her.
No gun…
She looked at her empty palm in confusion and then nervously glanced at the zombies.
The zombies looked at her for a couple of seconds but made no move to attack.
They stood in place, their bodies in a strangely relaxed state, with their arms hanging by their sides and their feet slowly dragging on the ground.
Seeing such non-aggressive zombies up close was a first for Xu Shuhan.
One zombie even wobbled to within five meters of her without showing any hostility…
“This… this… ah! Right!”
As if suddenly realizing something, she touched her cheek, her expression bewildered. “I… have I mutated?”
On this gradually darkening street, the seemingly ordinary zombie froze in place.
A few seconds later, she slowly walked to a storefront window and wiped away the dust.
As the gla.s.s cleared, a blurry reflection appeared before Xu Shuhan.
Seeing those red eyes made her freeze completely.
“No wonder…”
She stood dumbfounded in front of the window, her mouth slightly open.
“I… I just got scared by myself… Whenever I see a person, I want to eat them. My mind is full of thoughts of tearing them apart. I can even feel the beating heart inside their bodies… Is this how zombies perceive humans? This feeling… it scared me stiff…”
Getting scared by the thought of eating people, she was indeed an oddity among zombies.
Even thinking about it now, she still felt a lingering fear.
Xu Shuhan stood in front of the window for a good ten seconds, not even noticing a dark shadow appearing in the gla.s.s.
It wasn’t until that shadow was almost right behind her that she reacted in terror.
The dark shadow was clearly a zombie too, appearing to be a woman in her thirties. She was now leaning over Xu Shuhan’s shoulder, staring intently at her reflection…
“Please, don’t attack…”
Mixed emotions surged through Xu Shuhan; she felt a blend of human feelings and zombie instincts. Her human side found the proximity to a wild zombie unacceptable, even though her zombie instincts did not feel fear.
Just imagining this female zombie lunging at her made Xu Shuhan uneasy all over.
Would she have to use her hands to fend off an attack? The thought alone was terrifying!
“Rarrgh…”
The female zombie let out a low growl and suddenly looked to the side.
Following her gaze, Xu Shuhan slowly turned her head and paused in surprise.
It turned out the female zombie had approached to imitate her…
Watching her own projection in the gla.s.s, the female zombie tilted her head in confusion and slowly stretched out her hand as if trying to touch it.
This action surprised Xu Shuhan, as she hadn’t expected to see such human-like behavior from a common zombie.
Unfortunately, in the next second, the female zombie suddenly let out a frenzied roar and slapped the shop window.
“Cras.h.!.+”
“Ah!”
Xu Shuhan’s entire body stiffened, and she quickly darted to the side.
What was happening here? Did she just go on a rampage out of the blue? Why couldn’t she understand another zombie’s behavior at all?
Oh… It was because her hand had blocked the zombie’s view, right? Blaming the gla.s.s instead of her own hand!
“Wait, my… my speed…”
She had only intended to get a little distance from the female zombie but ended up dodging a good five or six meters…
And the entire process had taken maybe a tenth of a second.
“So… so fast…”
Xu Shuhan’s expression was bewildered. She had realized quite a few things, but her mind was still somewhat muddled.
Looking around again, Xu Shuhan suddenly felt a bit lost.
Desolate buildings, blood-red buildings in her eyes, zombies that just staggered around, occasionally s.p.a.cing out in front of something…
“I…” She stared at the zombies, her mouth getting dry, “I’m so hungry…”
Zombies really were all about eating…
But as soon as this thought crossed Xu Shuhan’s mind, she scared herself.
She started to miss that piece of gel; at least from its appearance, the gel seemed much easier to ingest.
And thinking about the gel led her to think about Ling Mo…
“But, where am I…”
Xu Shuhan had mindlessly charged too far. Looking around now, she no longer knew which path she had taken.
“I’m lost…”
Never would she have guessed that her first day as a zombie would involve getting lost…
“However, finding people should be easy for zombies, right?”
Xu Shuhan thought for a moment and then took a deep breath.
She looked around, chose a direction, and started following the scent…
“Human scent… Human scent…”
Before her mutation, Xu Shuhan would have been puzzled by this term.
But now, after her mutation, she understood it deeply.
This valuable piece of knowledge was also something Ling Mo had imparted to her…
Simply put, the so-called “human scent” refers to a unique scent humans emit.
A common zombie can pick up various scents from dozens of meters away and easily distinguish between them, with the “human scent” being particularly easy to identify.
Using this method, Xu Shuhan felt confident she could find Ling Mo quickly.
And as she moved forward, a hint of “human scent” suddenly wafted to her from ahead…