Chapter 486 – Considering Repayment with Your Own Body?

After the pursuit incident settled down, Ling Mo and his group stayed in the area for another two days.

During this time, Lucy, who was gathering supplies with Ye Lian and the others, wanted to ask Ling Mo about the incident more than once.

Lucy had not participated in the fight with Li Hao’s group, and even Ye Lian and the others had not taken action.

What was expected to be a fierce battle ended up being surprisingly quiet, with only one sound heard before everything settled down.

After the battle, Ling Mo seemed even more spirited than before, but he did not mention a word about the fight.

This left Lucy guessing in various ways… But no matter how imaginative she got, she would never guess that the captain who had organized the pursuit was now following their team…

Li Hao, who looked no different from a regular person, was trailing behind the mutation panda, Xiao Bai, with two huge dark circles under his eyes.

The two walked side by side, with Xiao Bai occasionally pouncing on zombies that suddenly appeared on the roadside, only to be yanked back by “Li Hao” grabbing its ridiculously short tail and pulling it away from the zombie corpses.

After a prolonged standoff, both the beast and the zombie puppet would collapse simultaneously.

Although Xiao Bai often eyed this white-haired zombie with ill intentions, it clearly understood that, despite not resembling its owner at all, this figure was actually one of Ling Mo’s Conscious Entities.

Using this zombie puppet, Ling Mo aimed to raise Xiao Bai’s intelligence from nine to ten, while also enhancing the compatibility between himself and the zombie puppet.

Controlling Old Tang had been different; he had been directly infused with some of the Spider Queen’s blood, completing his mutation in a very short time, but he still had to endure being beaten to a pulp to fool Li Hao and his group in critical situations.

However, relying on Li Hao, this new zombie puppet, to carry out Ling Mo’s plan was not going to be an easy task.

Just as Ling Mo had said, facing Li Hao and his group was no different from facing other ordinary survivors; there wasn’t much of a difference.

Their weapons and equipment were just slightly better, and their intelligence was a bit more thorough.

But facing the Air Force Corps was like facing hundreds or thousands of survivors combined. It wasn’t a problem that could be solved by sheer personal strength alone.

This was a battle of vastly unequal forces. Could an ant really kill an elephant?

Ling Mo didn’t know, but he was determined to try.

Even if he couldn’t take the elephant down in one bite, he would make sure to leave it covered in wounds and scars.

…

“So, this is the javelin you found?”

In their temporary shelter, Ling Mo took an iron pipe from Lucy’s hand and weighed it in his hand.

“They’re not all like this, but they’re roughly this length. The quality varies, but they’re good enough for short-term combat,” Lucy replied. She couldn’t help but ask, “By the way, how did the Air Force Corps’ pursuit turn out? You only took Yu Shiran with you, was that really enough? And your action plan… you won’t reveal it, will you?”

“This javelin is pretty decent. But did you find any kitchen knives?” Ling Mo asked, then smiled at Lucy. “Last time, they caused some trouble because of a sneak attack. But once we switch from being in the dark to the light, I’m not so easy to deal with. As for revealing the plan… I searched them thoroughly and only found one communicator, which I destroyed in advance.”

Ling Mo didn’t mention one more thing… Although it seemed like he only took Yu Shiran, in reality, besides the nearly twenty zombie puppets he controlled, there was also the mutation panda, Xiao Bai. Including Black Silk, there were two advanced mutation beasts accompanying him.

Yu Shiran might be small, but she was a leader-level zombie, and her strength was not to be underestimated.

They moved from the open to the underground, launching a sneak attack on Li Hao’s group. This lineup was more than enough.

If they couldn’t completely defeat Li Hao’s group with this, they might as well run away and forget about taking on the Air Force Corps altogether.

Lucy turned around and dragged a backpack over, opening it to reveal various rusty weapons inside. “This is all we have. Finding enough weapons in such a short time is really difficult. Even these were found quickly thanks to Ye Lian and the others. They’re really amazing; I feel so inadequate in comparison.”

She glanced back at Ye Lian and the others, who were causing a ruckus, then sighed worriedly and asked, “It’s been two days. The Air Force Corps should know by now that their pursuit failed, right? If that’s the case, won’t they send more people?”

“These knives will work. They might not be great for cutting through anything tough, but they’re perfect for slitting throats.”

Ling Mo picked up a rusty pocket knife, examined it briefly, then tossed it back into the backpack. “They don’t need to send more people…” He looked up and suddenly smiled, “I’ll deliver myself to them.”

Although she had mentally prepared for this, Lucy’s heart still skipped a beat when she heard Ling Mo say it. “Have you really thought this through? But the help you called for… hasn’t arrived yet!”

“Don’t worry, they’ll come, just not now.”

Ling Mo’s smile exuded confidence. “You just need to follow the plan as discussed.”

“Easier said than done…”

Lucy looked at Ling Mo, her emotions becoming a bit complicated.

It was clearly a very dangerous mission, and there was a high chance they would be buried by the Air Force Corps. So why could he still remain so calm?

However, Lucy had to admit that Ling Mo’s attitude did somewhat reassure her.

She glanced down at her own hands. Under her fingerless gloves were a pair of hands that looked very clean and normal, but Lucy could clearly feel a much stronger power coursing through her veins than usual. She slowly curled her fingers, and her bones seemed to make a faint “crack” sound at that moment.

“The mutation process is very slow, but it does indeed have an effect on the body. I don’t know when it will start to erode my brain… Has the zombie virus mutated again? But just thinking about it won’t give me any answers…”

Lucy glanced at Ling Mo and suddenly had a thought.

She almost blurted out, “If we both survive this, can you do me a favor?”

“Uh…”

“You can take me back to Fire. I promised you a mysterious reward. I’ll do my best in the battle against the Air Force Corps, and consider it an advance payment. Is that okay?”

But after saying it, she felt a bit embarrassed.

Ling Mo’s grudge with the Air Force Corps was ultimately because of their deal…

Of course, with Ling Mo’s character, he wouldn’t blame others, but Lucy felt that way herself.

So, helping Ling Mo in the fight against the Air Force Corps was a given…

“I… I really don’t have anything else to give you.”

Lucy’s face turned slightly red, a rare expression for her. “Forget it, just pretend I didn’t say anything. But remember my first sentence. If you die, you won’t get the mysterious reward, so think about it!”

After saying that, she abruptly stood up. “I… I’ll go pack my things.”

Ling Mo watched Lucy until she, flustered, walked toward the door and bumped into the doorframe. Only then did he speak, “Alright.”

“Huh?” Lucy turned back, holding her head, her embarrassed expression turning into surprise, “Wha… what?”

“I said alright, I’ll help you. As for the reward…”

Ling Mo kicked the backpack on the ground, “These javelins and weapons are already enough.”

“Really?” Lucy was momentarily confused. Why had this reward-focused guy suddenly changed his mind?

“Hiss…” Ling Mo scratched his chin, looking troubled. “If you feel really guilty about it, you can consider repaying me with yourself… Ow! My head!”