Chapter 412 – The World Through Others’ Eyes

“Can’t shake them off… and I have no idea where the others are…”

Behind a building, Lucy glanced at her shoulder.

Her exposed shoulder had an unnatural sag, with large bruises that looked shockingly severe.

With such injuries, she couldn’t even move, let alone wield a pocket knife.

She held the machine gun in her hand with difficulty, leaning against the wall, gasping for air.

“Creak…”

Suddenly, a faint sound came from not far away.

“They caught up so quickly!”

Lucy’s pupils contracted and her brows furrowed. She took a deep breath to steady her erratic breathing, then pressed herself against the wall and slowly poked her head out from her hiding place.

At the moment she revealed herself, a massive wooden club, accompanied by the sound of whistling wind, came crashing down towards her head.

At the same time, a shadow wearing a pumpkin head appeared in front of her, holding the massive wooden club.

“So fast! It looks so clumsy, why is it so agile?”

Lucy’s eyes sharpened, and she leaned back, pushing off the wall with one foot.

The immense force propelled her backward, narrowly dodging the wooden club.

After landing, Lucy didn’t hesitate; she rolled and sprang up, running headlong towards the department store.

“This Pumpkin Head is too strong! If only I could use the machine gun, I wouldn’t be so passive… Never mind, let’s head to the department store. If they’re still alive, they should be heading there too. At least, I can lure this monster into the building and then figure out a way to deal with it…”

…

“Tch, quite the runner.”

Xia Na slowly lifted the scythe that had sliced through the air, turning her head to coldly stare at the monster rapidly crawling along the street towards the department store.

Its joints seemed dislocated, yet it crawled quickly and reacted swiftly.

Its long hair almost completely covered its upper body, and its peculiar long neck and twisted limbs made the monster’s appearance and movements grotesque and bizarre.

“Speaking of which, I can vaguely sense Ling-Ge, but I can’t see him at all…”

Xia Na hoisted the scythe onto her shoulder and looked at the monster that was already nearing the department store. “It feels kind of weird. This monster’s scent seems familiar… but I don’t remember eating… no, I haven’t encountered a monster of this shape before.”

“Hmph, if you’d just let me knock you out with the back of the scythe, it would have been over… Never mind, injuring your shoulder works too. Next time, I’ll just break both your legs.”

Her eyes turned slightly red, then quickly returned to their normal color. “No, no, on second thought, violence isn’t that interesting…”

“Maybe while Ling-Ge isn’t around…”

“No, I promised Ling-Ge I wouldn’t cause trouble…”

Xia Na stood there, conflicted for a moment, and finally reached a compromise with herself. “I should deal with the matter at hand first. That monster is the most unusual; I need to catch up with it…”

With that, she leaped, scythe in hand, and swiftly followed.

…

“I remember I was carrying Yu Shiran and Black Silk, so why did it suddenly turn into this…”

Li Yalin looked blankly at the giant round head in front of her, holding her chin in confusion.

The head didn’t seem particularly dangerous, just a bit creepy.

It looked like it had been torn off a larger version of a mascot, and due to its size, it had a strangely disproportionate appearance.

“Ah~! I get it, if you put a little girl and a pet together, this is what you get after they hatch!”

After staring at the bloody giant head for a while, the more Li Yalin thought about it, the more she felt her hypothesis was correct…

“Hahaha, I didn’t expect you to look so much more presentable after evolving.”

Li Yalin nonchalantly grabbed the head and tossed it onto her back. “I wonder if Ling Mo will be pleased with it. I think it looks quite unique… To use human terms… Shamate1? It seems pretty close… let me think more carefully…”

Meanwhile, a similar scene was unfolding with Liu Baodong and his group.

They were also being chased by monsters. Unable to use their guns and struggling to put up an effective resistance, they were forced to flee towards the department store, despite their injuries.

“Why is the zombie chasing me carrying a knife too?!”

Liu Baodong, drenched in sweat, was sprinting forward with a military spike in his hand.

He had just mustered the courage to turn and fight, only to be shocked when the zombie pulled out a rusty short knife.

To make matters worse, another female zombie appeared from behind, also wielding a weapon.

“Help!”

The courage Liu Baodong had just built up instantly vanished, and he turned to run…

“Thud.”

Ling Mo tapped on a wall, confirming his suspicion:

“As I thought, it’s an illusion, but only a partial one. It can’t completely alter the environment. With my current psychic power, breaking through this level of illusion isn’t difficult. The issue is how to help the others escape it, since they’re undoubtedly trapped too. Everyone is either seeing each other as monsters or invisible people… This outcome must be tied to the illusionist’s psychic strength.”

“Hey, Ye Lian, I’m really not food…”

He sighed, glancing back at Ye Lian, who was biting his sleeve.

But after hearing his words, Ye Lian just looked up at him blankly for a moment before resuming her tussle with his sleeve.

“At least it seems like speech isn’t affected, so the anomaly is only visual? I wonder what this silly girl sees me as. Rather than risking a direct psychic interference, it’s better to take out the source directly.”

Ling Mo patted Ye Lian’s head and adjusted her ‘nurse cap.’ “I can vaguely sense that Xia Na and Senior Sister are both headed towards the department store… Speaking of which, this illusion is pretty powerful, even the touch feels real…”

He turned his gaze towards the department store, a faint smile playing on his lips.

Ling Mo, pulling along Ye Lian who was stubbornly biting his sleeve, slowly walked towards the department store. “No matter how much I probe, I can’t find the psychic light cluster. It must have some ability to shield itself… This mental ability superhuman is developing in a completely different direction from me…”

“Zzz… How’s it going?”

A male voice suddenly crackled through a walkie-talkie in a corner of the department store.

“They’re completely trapped. One of them is a mental ability superhuman, which is a bit troublesome. As for the rest, try to capture them alive, got it? Once they’re having fun, you won’t even need to lift a finger to catch them. By the way, there are several pretty women among them… Want me to help you out? I can ensure that under the illusion, they’ll…”

A deep voice responded with a laugh.

“Alright, once this is done, getting women will be easy. Don’t complicate things! Be careful over there too. Until this is finished, hold your ground no matter what,” the male voice on the other end of the walkie-talkie interrupted impatiently. “Do you think that mental ability superhuman will cause any trouble?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll deal with him before he can cause any problems. Others might not know how strong I am, but you do, right? Hahaha… I’m actually looking forward to it. It’ll be a good test to see how powerful my psychic abilities have become. But I have a feeling he’s the offensive type… Unlike me, who plays with people’s minds, we’re not even in the same league.”

The deep voice suddenly grew excited.

“What mental ability superhuman? You’re a psychopath superhuman. Have you practiced your abilities so much that it’s affecting your brain?” The male voice on the other end of the walkie-talkie fell silent for two seconds before cursing.

“Alright then, I’ll meet up with you later,” the deep voice responded nonchalantly.

“Hey, don’t mess around! Don’t forget our goal… Damn, he just turned it off!”

After putting down the walkie-talkie, the male voice opened a side door. “I’d better go check. We need to capture them alive. If they’re all dead, how can we get anything done…”

Footnote:

1. Shamate(杀马特): Shamate (杀马特) is a subculture in China, typically referring to a fashion style among teenagers that became popular in the late 2000s and early 2010s.  Influenced by Japanese Visual Kei and punk culture, it is characterized by exaggerated hairstyles, heavy makeup, and trendy clothing.  Shamate youth often use this style to express individuality and rebelliousness.