Chapter 173 – The Call from Afar

A few minutes later, all the rooms on the first floor had been searched, but there was no sign of Yang Jia.

Ling Mo’s sense of foreboding grew stronger. Why hasn’t he come downstairs yet?

“What’s going on? If there were any zombies upstairs, they would have been drawn down by now. Since there’s no danger upstairs, why is he taking so long? Did he find something?”

Meng Jiayu furrowed her brow and gripped her knife tightly, ready to head upstairs and check.

Ling Mo hesitated for a moment before saying, “I’ll go with you.”

Originally, Ye Lian and the three girls were all going to accompany them, but Ling Mo thought it through and decided to have Xia Na and Li Yalin stay downstairs. This way, even if something did happen, they wouldn’t be caught off guard on either side.

It wasn’t feasible for everyone to go to the second floor; some had to stay at the door to prevent zombies or the Mutation Wolfdog from suddenly showing up.

Old Wang loaded his rifle and exchanged a glance with Guo Chao before silently following them.

“Alright.” Meng Jiayu was a bit surprised but managed a faint smile.

She could see the worry in Ling Mo’s eyes. With him by her side, she felt much more reassured.

The second floor seemed to be a place for storing files; numerous folders were scattered on the ground, stained with old blood.

After Ling Mo and the others went up, they began to slowly search along the entire corridor.

In the silent hallway, the only sounds were the faint rustling of papers under their feet and the occasional creak of a door being pushed open.

The atmosphere was truly unsettling… Soon, Ling Mo and his group approached a small room with a closed door.

Just as Meng Jiayu was about to open the door, Ling Mo stopped her.

He quietly pointed to the gap under the door. Meng Jiayu looked down and was shocked.

Blood was seeping out from under the door. Judging by the amount and freshness of the blood, it wasn’t hard to imagine the scene inside the room.

After listening for a moment and confirming there were no sounds inside, Ling Mo reached out and turned the doorknob.

As the door opened, the scene before them nearly made Meng Jiayu vomit, and even Old Wang’s face turned a bit pale.

Even Ling Mo furrowed his brow, while Ye Lian’s expression remained unchanged. Instead, she sniffed the air.

A strong smell of blood seemed to have been trapped inside the small room, rushing out the moment the door was opened. The sickly sweet scent assaulted their senses, and the gruesome scene before them tested their limits.

The room held nearly hollowed-out human bodies, with blood and flesh fragments splattered all over the walls and floor… Ling Mo was the first to recover and, along with Ye Lian, kicked open the doors to the nearby rooms.

However, the second floor was already completely empty… Judging by the condition of the two corpses, it was undoubtedly the work of a Mutation Wolfdog. But had it really left silently after finishing its meal?

This behavior did not match that of a typical Mutation Beast!

No matter how much Ling Mo thought about it, he felt something was off, but he couldn’t pinpoint what it was. He could only suspiciously look at the empty corridor and the wide-open window at the end.

With two people mysteriously dead, Guo Chao looked grim upon learning the situation.

Old Wang also had a deeply furrowed brow. Despite having a gun in hand, the feeling of an invisible enemy lurking around while they stood in the open would make anyone uncomfortable.

When they reached the parking lot, Old Wang carefully inspected the Armored Jeep and then dragged out the half-decomposed corpse inside, seating himself in the driver’s seat.

The sound of the engine starting was fairly loud, attracting a few zombies from within the dormitory building. But before they could get close, everyone had already climbed into the Armored Jeep, driving out of the Armed Police Unit along the road.

Though they had inexplicably lost some people during this trip, they succeeded in obtaining guns and ammunition, and now had a vehicle. All things considered, it was still worthwhile… Only Ling Mo’s eyes were filled with complexity, as if lost in thought.

He glanced back at the zombies still madly chasing the vehicle and couldn’t help but cast his gaze towards the increasingly distant building.

Not long after the group had completely left the Armed Police Unit, a figure appeared at the unit’s entrance, accompanied by two Mutation Wolfdogs with blood-stained mouths.

Those eerie eyes were even brighter than before, and a still-healing wound was clearly visible on her neck.

Her skin looked like it had formed a layer of scales, giving it a somewhat shiny appearance.

This person was Ban Yue. She glanced down at the two Mutation Wolfdogs following behind her while playing with a bullet in her hand.

Although she hadn’t taken the rifle, this item still intrigued her.

“This time, I won’t make a rash move. I’ll test them first. As humans say, to win a battle, you must know yourself and your enemy…”

After fully advancing to Leader-Level, Ban Yue’s language abilities were greatly restored. As if trying to get used to speaking, she chatted to herself with great enthusiasm: “To avoid hurting Ye Lian, I can’t act recklessly. And that human is strange, somewhat like my kind, but his aura is clearly human… But now it feels like there’s a familiar presence in this city. Could it be another high-level kind like me? How odd, I didn’t have this feeling before, but it’s been persistent since my advancement…”

“Wang Cai, if we can make that high-level kind listen to me, just like you do, we could capture that human and Ye Lian alive, right?”

Ban Yue frowned as she looked towards the center of the city, then glanced in the direction Ling Mo and the others had gone: “No rush, if I hurry, he might splash me with that Venom again…”

As she spoke, she pulled open her collar to look at the wound Ling Mo had left on her.

The extensive erosion from the Venom caused her wound to repeatedly reopen and heal, almost suppressing her regenerative abilities.

But because of this, her potential had been fully activated, allowing her to truly step into Leader-Level.

When Li Yalin was bitten back then, only a small amount of toxins had entered her system. But Ban Yue had been doused with nearly half a bottle of pure Venom.

Even now, she was still under the influence of the Venom.

If it were an ordinary person, even if they managed to survive, they’d be tormented to the point of wishing for death. Yet Ban Yue’s expression remained incredibly calm.

So what if her sense of pain had returned? To a zombie, pain was completely negligible!

The Mutation Wolfdog that Ban Yue called Wang Cai suddenly sniffed the ground deeply, then let out a low growl in the direction Ling Mo and the others had left.

Its growl didn’t sound like that of a dog anymore, but more like a bloodthirsty beast.

“Good, remember that scent. That familiar presence keeps calling to me… Let’s go check it out first.”

Ban Yue looked satisfied as she tossed the bullet into the air and then caught it smoothly.

In the next moment, she began to move, dashing forward with an incredibly light and swift gait.

The two Mutation Wolfdogs followed closely behind. Although she wasn’t moving very fast, both dogs seemed to deliberately slow their pace, not daring to overtake her.

“Having a vehicle is great!” Old Wang remarked, skillfully driving the flashy Armored Jeep.

The zombies were fierce but couldn’t catch up with the vehicle.

If they weren’t worried about the gunfire attracting more zombies, they could’ve tried target practice with live targets.

“But this vehicle… sigh, Yang Jia and the others died too…” Meng Jiayu intended to say the vehicle was exchanged with their comrades’ lives, but she held back in the end.

Even food needs to be exchanged with lives, let alone vehicles and weapons.

Li Yalin and Ye Lian were curiously looking out the car windows, as if it was their first time riding in a car.

Their memories had barely recovered, so it was normal for them not to remember. For them, it indeed felt no different from a first time.

Xia Na, on the other hand, held her Scythe with interest, intently watching zombies on the roadside that were attracted to the car’s noise.

These scattered zombies would immediately turn their heads upon hearing the vehicle and then scramble madly toward it.

Old Wang didn’t bother dodging. He plowed right through them. Ordinary cars might not be good for ramming, but the impact of a military Armored Jeep certainly was substantial.

With a dull thud, a zombie was sent flying. As soon as it hit the ground, the pursuing zombies were drawn to the fresh blood and flesh, stopping to cluster around and tear it apart crazily.

As they neared the Shopping Mall, Old Wang carefully maneuvered the Jeep into a shortcut devoid of zombies before finally jumping out with his rifle on his back.

Ling Mo and his group also got out of the vehicle. Their aim was to search for survivors in the area and gather some food supplies.

Climbing over the wall, the group entered the Shopping Mall through the back door.

Initially, Ling Mo had doubts about the feasibility of finding survivors here. But once inside, he realized the structure of the place indeed made it easy for survivors to hide.

The warehouse at the back was completely separated from the front Mall area, with only one large door connecting the two.

Guo Chao was the first to slowly push open the door and said, “Let’s gather some food first. If we find survivors, great. If not, we’ll just have to go back empty-handed.”

“You haven’t been here before?” Ling Mo asked curiously.

“No. The food in the Villas was enough for us. We didn’t need to take risks. But to prepare some reserve supplies, places like this are our best bet,” Guo Chao replied.

As they spoke, the group had already made their way into the Mall.

The lighting was dim, and all they could see were countless toppled shelves and scattered food on the ground, while a nauseating stench permeated the air.

Ling Mo noticed a large number of rotting vegetables, fruits, and even eggs not far away… likely the source of the stench. Originally, there was probably a lot of loose rice here too, but with this widespread rot, it was likely inedible now.

“Quietly, move in slowly.”

Covering their noses and mouths, the group silently advanced further in, with Li Yalin taking the rear while Ling Mo and Guo Chao led at the front.

Old Wang kept his gun in hand, but he wouldn’t fire unless it was absolutely necessary.