Chapter 179 – Caught by the Little Girl

A gunshot rang out, and immediately, a fierce battle broke out inside and outside the gate.

Mutation Beasts continuously charged out from the courtyard, while a few were drawn by the gunfire from outside.

Fortunately, Ling Mo and his two companions were inside, and with the blockade and Li Yalin outside, they were not in immediate danger of being overrun.

Although the battle was intense, it ended as quickly as it began.

As the Mutation Beasts fell one by one, the entire open space was drenched in blood, filling the air with a stench so strong it made one’s head throb.

However, Ling Mo’s side also suffered casualties. One Survivor was gored by a Mutation Cow, and by the time he hit the ground, his stomach had a massive gash. After spitting out a few mouthfuls of blood, he breathed his last.

Another Survivor was slashed accidentally, his entire side turning red in an instant. He staggered for a couple of seconds before collapsing.

The strength of these Mutation Beasts was overwhelming—any direct hit meant grievous injury or death.

The Mutation Cow, in particular, posed a significant threat, despite there being only one.

If not for Ling Mo and Ye Lian shouldering the bulk of the pressure, the Survivors alone would have faced catastrophic losses.

2 showed impressive capabilities; although his Psychic Storm was entirely random in its effectiveness, he had one clear advantage.

As a Psychopath, he had a fearlessness that was quite beneficial, and his attack angles were highly unpredictable.

By weaving in and out among Ling Mo and others, he managed to offer substantial assistance.

2 was quite adept at sneak attacks.

However, any rational person would avoid such tactics—they were simply too dangerous!

It was truly dancing on the edge of a knife!

“Whoosh!”

Pulling his Tang Sword from the neck of the last Mutation Pig, Ling Mo turned to look at the Ranch.

“The number of Mutation Beasts here isn’t actually that many,” Ling Mo said, puzzled.

Meng Jiayu released her hold on Ouyang Lian’s eyes, looked at the corpses strewn all over the ground with some lingering fear, and said, “Maybe a large number of livestock were initially killed by the mutated zombies. The remaining few might have had the chance to eat zombie meat, got infected, and then took care of those zombies?”

“Does this constitute a new food chain?” Ling Mo raised an eyebrow and said.

“In that case, humans are now at the very bottom of the food chain, aren’t they? No, ordinary animals likely still exist. Although the infection is widespread, it initially spread from humans, meaning Mutation Beasts appear where there are traces of people. Also, from the current behavior of these Mutation Beasts, they seem to stay nearby and don’t migrate rashly?”

“Then… does that mean… Senior Zombies are at the bottom too?” Ye Lian seemed shocked. Though it was unclear how much of the conversation she comprehended, she seemed unable to accept that zombies were also being taken out by Mutation Beasts.

Ling Mo shook his head and said, “No, Mutation Beasts are still relatively few in number. They might have started with large numbers, but after the initial slaughter, their numbers naturally decreased.”

“Exactly. They can run rampant here because there aren’t many zombies around. If it were in a city, they’d be done for,” Xia Na scoffed disdainfully, pulling Ye Lian close.

Seeing Xia Na’s reaction, seemingly defending the Senior Zombies, both 2 and Meng Jiayu took a closer look at her.

Ling Mo quickly coughed and said, “Alright, right now, it seems these Mutation Beasts aren’t particularly terrifying. With guns, we can take them down.”

In reality, he wasn’t sure if that was true. These Mutation Beasts would clearly continue to evolve, and no one knew what kind of terrifying creatures they might become in the future.

Senior Zombies were also extremely powerful. Leaving other details aside, zombies like Ye Lian and Xia Na, who had reached the Advanced Zombie level, could already stand toe-to-toe with Mutation Beasts.

The current situation was that humans were at their weakest.

Seeing Xia Na and Ye Lian react this way, Ling Mo felt a bit pleased.

No matter what, at least they had self-awareness. This could be considered a faint budding of emotions.

“Let’s clean up the bodies first.”

Ling Mo shifted his perspective to Li Yalin’s, noticing that the battle outside the gate had also concluded.

The fields here were expansive, and only a few Mutation Beasts had been drawn in. With the temporary blockade holding them off, there wasn’t much of a threat.

The Survivors dragged the bodies inside and piled them onto an abandoned farm truck, along with the other corpses in the courtyard.

“Later, find a chance to drive them out and dispose of them. For now, let’s use the well water to wash the ground. There’s too much blood, and it’s quite unbearable to look at.”

Unconsciously, Ling Mo had started to take over Guo Chao’s role as the leader, becoming the commanding voice of this Survival Squad.

No one objected to his orders. Without Ling Mo, many of them would likely have died already.

Everyone immediately got busy, except for Guo Chao.

He stood by the wall, looking at Ling Mo with a complicated expression. Around Ling Mo, Meng Jiayu and two other Survivors exchanged admiring glances and conversed with him.

Clutching his handgun, Guo Chao slowly raised the barrel a bit, then lowered it again.

“Am I inviting the wolf into the fold?” Guo Chao muttered with a bitter smile, which looked particularly chilling on his otherwise stern face.

The cleanup took over an hour. Meanwhile, Meng Jiayu, along with Ouyang Lian and Yu Lan, cleared out the office building that also served as a Dormitory.

Other Survivors found the Granary, and the sight of mountains of bagged rice made them ecstatic. Even more rewarding was the discovery of a large quantity of cured meat.

Near the Ranch was a vegetable garden, although most of it had been trampled by Mutation Beasts. Still, the room next to the Granary was filled with various vegetable seeds.

Aside from the lack of livestock, this place could pretty much allow them to be self-sufficient.

As long as they could hold the bridge, this could be a sustainable Survival Base.

Ling Mo didn’t participate in these activities. Firstly, he didn’t plan to stay at this base. Secondly, after a day of fighting, he was exhausted.

Meng Jiayu had already prepared the cleanest room for him, and Ling Mo led Ye Lian and the three girls inside.

The door couldn’t be locked from the inside, but seeing everyone busy downstairs, Ling Mo wasn’t worried about anyone daring to peek.

Feeding time had arrived…

When Li Yalin ingested the Gel from the Mutation Wolfdog, she had barely any reaction. It seemed she had fully adapted to Venom.

Today, during the battle, she exhibited even greater speed and sharper reflexes than before, effects of her second mutation.

In contrast, Ye Lian and Xia Na had consumed a handful of Gel but showed no immediate improvement.

Upon careful observation, Ling Mo felt that some subtle changes were slowly occurring within their bodies, different from previous alterations.

Maybe, once these changes accumulated enough, they would undergo a qualitative transformation!

“I wonder if we can find any Senior Zombies out here in the wild for me to dissect…”

Ling Mo’s eagerness to capture a Senior Zombie for dissection was almost insatiable, but despite the abundance of zombies, Senior Zombies were extremely rare.

However, if there were no zombies here, the Military District nearby should still be filled with them, right?

And let’s not forget the Biological Research Institute…

As a regular person, Ling Mo knew very little about the Virus. Even the slightest hope of gaining more insight was something he wouldn’t dismiss.

After all, understanding the Virus was crucial not only for Ye Lian and the three girls but also for Ling Mo himself.

“Huh, there’s some bloodstain here.”

Ling Mo suddenly noticed a smudge of blood near Li Yalin’s collar. He pulled out a small piece of tissue from his pocket and carefully started wiping it off after unbuttoning her collar.

“Ling Mo!”

Just at that moment, the door burst open, and a small figure swiftly darted inside.

It turned out someone was bold enough to intrude…

Ling Mo’s scalp tingled. Though he sensed Ouyang Lian entering the room the moment she opened the door, in his haste to withdraw his hand, he accidentally caught Li Yalin’s collar…

“Rip!”

The buttons on her shirt popped off, and a large expanse of skin immediately became exposed to the open air.

Ouyang Lian stood at the door, her eyes wide and mouth agape, staring at Li Yalin in shock before shifting her gaze to Ling Mo.

“Um…”

If it wasn’t for the excessive Psychic Power consumption, Ling Mo would have sensed Ouyang Lian approaching!

Why did it have to be at this moment?

Moreover, Ye Lian, Xia Na, and even Li Yalin must have noticed her and perhaps recognized her by scent. So why didn’t they warn him?

On second thought, maybe they saw how close he was with Ouyang Lian and…

Ling Mo had a look of sheer helplessness. He quickly covered Li Yalin’s chest with one hand while addressing Ouyang Lian, “Uh, I wasn’t… It’s not what you think…”

Ouyang Lian remained wide-eyed and dumbfounded for a moment before she slowly took two steps back and reached for the door handle on her tiptoes.

“Lian Lian didn’t see anything!”

Bang!

As the door closed, Ling Mo felt as if something had shattered inside him.

Heartbroken, truly shattered…