Chapter 301 – A Deceptive Negotiation

This was the first time Ling Mo truly experienced how others treated zombies.

From a human perspective, there was nothing wrong with it, but Ling Mo still found it deeply shocking.

The Pockmarked Man repeatedly struck the Advanced Zombie’s head with an electric baton, while another researcher approached and forcefully jabbed a syringe into the zombie’s arm.

After drawing a full syringe of blood, the Advanced Zombie was left dazed and tortured.

Several times, Ling Mo was ready to sever the Psychic Link, but the person drawing the blood stopped the Pockmarked Man just in time.

“If you kill it, there’ll be hell to pay. All the Senior Zombies we captured before are dead, and this one is the best test subject we have right now! Just thinking about it gets me a bit excited.”

The researcher squeezed out a smile on his chubby face and carefully placed the syringe into a box.

Ling Mo noticed the box was filled with ice packs. In reality, even without cold storage, the virus in zombie blood could remain active for a long time.

“Drawing a tube of blood at different times each day, can we really study the virus’s active period?” the Pockmarked Man asked.

“Maybe. I was a doctor before… but damn it, I was just a pediatrician! However, from the data we’ve gathered so far, regardless of what kind of zombie it is, their bodies enter a dormant state when they don’t have a target to attack, similar to a brief deep sleep in humans. They can quickly regain strength and minimize energy consumption, like hibernation. Then, when they reboot… it’s instant, no warm-up needed.”

The researcher spoke while organizing the box.

“The recovery speed of these monsters is astonishing. We’re short on medical supplies, but they don’t need any. If we could extract and use the beneficial parts of this for ourselves, that would be great.”

The Pockmarked Man turned back and glared at the Advanced Zombie with disgust.

“Forget it. There’s no way I’m letting that Virus into my body, even if it kills me. What we need to research is how to kill zombies more efficiently. The more advanced they are, the harder they are to hit. How many Sharpshooters do you think we have? But if we could develop something that kills them no matter where it hits, that would be perfect. Like those silver bullets for killing vampires.”

The Fat-faced Man laughed heartily, closed the box, and turned toward the car door.

“Do you know about that thing found in the zombies’ hindbrain? Like a stone? I’ve heard it’s the concentration of most of the Virus in their bodies, probably controlling their nervous system. By the way, did you know there’s a superhuman who has given these zombies a more detailed classification?”

The Pockmarked Man followed behind, speaking.

The Fat-faced Man sneered, “It’s not like we’re playing a damn video game with levels…”

“But it’s actually quite useful. At least we know the characteristics of each level of zombies and can fight them accordingly. However, even zombies of the same level have individual differences. If we underestimate them because of that, we’ll end up dead.”

Ling Mo immediately reached into his backpack.

Sure enough, the information Su Qianrou had given him was incomplete and totally glossed over important details.

The Camp’s research on zombies was clearly much more advanced than what was in the documents.

Although much of what these two discussed was already known to Ling Mo, it still meant that the evolution patterns, behavior, and even the thought processes of zombies were gradually being exposed to these humans.

This wasn’t good news for Ye Lian and the others…

For a moment, Ling Mo felt confused. Should he consider things from the perspective of humans or zombies?

“Forget it. Let them research whatever they want. But I won’t allow anyone to hurt Ye Lian and the others! This is also an opportunity for me…”

As they were about to leave the bus, Ling Mo’s mind raced, and he suddenly controlled the Advanced Zombie to open its mouth, “Roar…”

“Shut up!”

The Pockmarked Man jumped, turned around, and glared angrily at the zombie.

Ling Mo was getting anxious. Controlling a Zombie Puppet to speak wasn’t easy.

After several garbled attempts, he finally managed to shout, albeit unclearly, “Stop… stop…”

The two researchers were stunned.

They exchanged glances and then frantically rushed over to Ling Mo’s Zombie Puppet.

The Pockmarked Man even hastily dropped his baton and pulled out a voice recorder from his pocket.

“Shit! Holy shit! This monster finally spoke! We’ve hit the jackpot; this really is a highly intelligent Senior Zombie!”

He scrambled to the Zombie Puppet, his hand shaking as he held the recorder.

The Fat-faced Man swallowed hard, looking excitedly at the Zombie Puppet. He asked, “You want to talk? What do you want to say? Don’t worry, even if you say you want to eat us, we won’t kill you.”

The Pockmarked Man elbowed him, “Zombies aren’t afraid of death.”

“Are you not talking anymore? Do you want something to eat?”

The Fat-faced Man seemed extremely excited. He even took out a bag of Virus Gel from another sealed cooler.

These Virus Gels hadn’t been cleaned properly and still had some residue on them.

Judging by their quality, they didn’t seem that great either…

But after a quick glance at the cooler, Ling Mo suspected he might be wrong.

Their cleanup operation had likely been going on for three days, maybe even longer…

“You… you people…”

Ling Mo struggled to control the Zombie Puppet to continue speaking, “What do you… weak… humans… know about us…”

After saying that, Ling Mo’s Main Body couldn’t help but rub his forehead.

He never thought he would have to say something like this…

The Pockmarked Man paused for a moment, then sneered and smashed the Zombie Puppet’s head with his baton, “This monster isn’t dumb! What do we know? We know plenty! Right now, you might still look like us on the outside, but every experiment proves that your primary instinct is to kill! Human flesh? You eat! Your kind? You eat! Mutation Beasts? You eat! What the hell don’t you eat?”

“But you… you don’t know… how strong we are… how to kill… better… kill us…”

After controlling the Zombie Puppet to speak, Ling Mo’s Main Body couldn’t help but let out a long sigh.

The sound it made was like a jammed cassette tape, really not a pleasant feeling.

Ling Mo patted Ye Lian’s head gently and then leaned over to give her a kiss. “It’s really hard on our girl, isn’t it?”

But as he got distracted, the Zombie Puppet immediately stretched its neck, almost hitting the Pockmarked Man’s face.

The sudden movement startled the Pockmarked Man, making him scream like a wildcat, “Oh my god! He just tried to bite me!”

“Tell me… and I will… answer your questions… humans… but I can… tell if you’re… lying…”

The Zombie Puppet’s gaze shifted to the Pockmarked Man’s chest, locking onto his heart.

This was an Advanced Zombie, and though its eyes looked a bit vacant under control, it was much harder to discern any flaws compared to a Mutation Zombie or a regular zombie.

This might be the first time they encountered a Zombie Puppet negotiating terms. After exchanging looks for a moment, the Fat-faced Man immediately said, “Alright!”

“We don’t know everything about you yet, but we do know that variation zombies have appeared. They’re generally stronger than regular zombies, roughly between a Mutation Zombie and an Advanced Zombie… You don’t understand this, do you? Anyway, they’re just a bit weaker than you. Also, we know there are even stronger zombies among you. They are rare, hard to catch, and very cunning. We have some other clues as well…”

After the Fat-faced Man finished speaking, the Pockmarked Man hesitated for a moment and then added, “As for how to kill you more effectively… we haven’t found a better method yet…”

“We’ve told you everything. Now, can you answer our question? What exactly do you evolve from, besides devouring each other?”

Ten minutes later, following a roar from inside the bus, the two researchers walked out, looking frustrated.

“Damn it! A monster is a monster. We told him everything, and he just played dumb with us! All he did was roar and bite my recorder to pieces!”

“Even if he knew, it wouldn’t matter. Is he going to inform the other zombies? These monsters…”

“Submit the situation we just encountered. The higher-ups won’t think we’re lying, right? Forget it… let’s just hand him over directly…”

They probably never imagined someone would be interested in the zombies. So after they left, the bus was just left there unattended, with no one guarding it at all.