Chapter 561 – I’m Here to Be an Undercover Agent

“Damn!” Ling Mo flicked his tentacle and quickly followed.

He wasn’t necessarily determined to kill the Spider Queen, but her recent words had caught his attention.

What did she mean by that?

The two moved swiftly one after the other through the streets lined with tall buildings.

“Whoosh!”

A thin strand hooked onto a balcony railing of a high-rise, and then the Spider Queen swung across like she was on a swing. Just as she was about to hit the wall, she shot another strand, and with a leap, she rounded to the back of the building.

“Trying to shake me off? Is it that easy?” Ling Mo sneered. Mid-air, he suddenly seemed to step on an invisible spring and shot forward like a cannonball.

The distance between them shortened significantly. Ling Mo was about to exert more force when he caught a glimpse of a spark out of the corner of his eye.

He instinctively stopped, and then he saw a series of blood flowers bloom on the Spider Queen’s body.

“Huh?” Ling Mo was startled.

But quickly, he noticed the Spider Queen turn to look at him, her gaze still calm.

This unusual reaction made Ling Mo immediately sense something wasn’t right.

Sure enough, this sudden string of attacks, although wounding the Spider Queen, also propelled her backward. Combined with her blood strands, she quickly widened the gap with Ling Mo and backwardly crashed into an alley.

By the time Ling Mo swiftly chased after her, the alley was empty except for a few drops of blood.

“Damn!”

Ling Mo’s face immediately showed a hint of displeasure.

Someone suddenly jumped in… Who was it?

With the Spider Queen’s trail lost, catching up to her became difficult. She was quite adept at escaping.

Ling Mo, with a scowl, turned back and cautiously looked in the direction where the bullets had come from.

“Today I found another variation zombie, it seems to be very high level and strong. There was also a human following it, I saved him…”

A woman holding a Silenced Submachine Gun emerged from the shadows, looking at Ling Mo from across the street, muttering to herself.

“You saved who? You clearly messed up my plan…” Ling Mo’s expression froze. What was this woman up to?

Her hearing was good, and she caught Ling Mo’s muttering clearly.

“Were you chasing that zombie?” the woman asked.

“Yes.” Ling Mo nodded.

“Oh… even if you caught up, you couldn’t kill her.” The woman commented nonchalantly.

Ling Mo was momentarily speechless. Not only was this woman not apologizing, but she was also mocking him!

If it hadn’t been for her initial intention to save people, Ling Mo would have had a hard time restraining himself from questioning her. But now he had nothing to say.

“You really can’t kill her. I just hit her, but she adjusted her movements in mid-air, and her recovery ability is very strong,” the woman said with a blank expression.

“I know that too…” Ling Mo continued to be speechless.

He knew this well; even when the Spider Queen was a semi-finished product, her blood had strong restorative effects, let alone now after her evolution.

Ling Mo had originally planned to do something with the help of the Air Force Corps, but it turned out not only did it not limit her, it made her stronger.

At least she figured out how to bring a Zombie Horde along… and it was specifically aimed at him.

As the “Originator” of variation zombies, the virus within the Spider Queen was incredibly adaptive. Theoretically, if she put in the effort, she could probably come up with anything.

Letting her loose in the city was certainly not a good thing…

However, Ling Mo couldn’t say all this. Firstly, there was no need; the Spider Queen had already escaped. Secondly, there were many details he couldn’t explain.

“Moreover, we’ve encountered her several times. This time you’re lucky; she didn’t have other zombies with her,” the woman continued.

“What do you mean she didn’t have…” Ling Mo was about to retort but then paused.

Encountered several times? And survived? It seemed this woman was quite capable too!

And it sounded like she wasn’t alone…

“But the person I saved this time is quite overconfident…”

The woman began to mutter again, and what she said made Ling Mo exasperated.

The woman noticed Ling Mo staring at her and brushed her hair aside to reveal a headset. “Don’t mind me, I’m just recording.”

“I do mind… You’re talking about me!” Ling Mo thought to himself.

“I’m recording to… keep a record. It might be useful in the future,” the woman paused and then explained.

“Alright…” In the aftermath of the Cataclysm, with weirdos everywhere, having a quirk or two wasn’t surprising.

Ling Mo was about to chalk it up to bad luck and leave when the woman called out to him again.

And just as she did, two more people appeared from around the corner behind her.

“What’s the situation?” One of the men shouted as soon as he showed up.

“Xia Zhi was right; the zombie was here, but it ran away,” the woman said. “This guy was also chasing her.”

“Oh…” The man looked at Ling Mo with interest. “You were chasing her alone?”

“No…” Ling Mo simply denied.

As soon as he spoke, three figures appeared not far away, while Xiao Bai and the others had already instinctively hidden.

“Whoa…” The man suddenly got excited, pointing at the scythe in Xia Na’s hand. “Did you guys kill the minions she had with her?”

Xia Na’s scythe was covered in blood, and her clothes also bore claw marks, making it quite noticeable.

“Yes,” Ling Mo replied.

“Wow! You guys are amazing. That Screamer was deadly! Every time it screamed, I’d lose my senses for half a day. I wished I could tear my ears off,” the man exclaimed.

“Just so-so…” Although that Screamer was interesting, it wasn’t enough to make Ling Mo that excited.

“So-so?” The man was instantly in tears. This is what you call ‘so-so’?

Among their group, aside from the silent Xia Zhi, the others didn’t have any mental ability, so they had zero resistance.

Once they were hit, they would be completely overwhelmed.

“There were over ten of them with her initially!” The man emphasized, unwilling to give up.

“Ah…” Ling Mo understood. They had fought the Spider Queen several times and had also caused her some losses.

If there were really over ten Screamers coming after Ling Mo, it would undoubtedly require some effort to deal with.

But it would just be extra effort. With Ling Mo’s psychic power, a head-to-head confrontation would undoubtedly end in his victory.

He wasn’t sure if they had just coincidentally encountered the Spider Queen or if she had found them and used them for practice.

The man seemed to want to say something else, but the woman interrupted him, “Um… I was wondering if there are any survivor teams or camps around here?”

Camp? Ling Mo immediately became cautious.

Niepan people?

These three were indeed the team led by Mu Chen, who was searching for a new base for the F Team. They had originally planned to find Ling Mo in one or two days, but plans could never keep up with changes.

While wandering around the area, they unexpectedly encountered the Spider Queen, who was also roaming around.

Although both sides had the same target, they were different species, and their meeting resulted in only one outcome: a fight.

Fighting the Spider Queen had disgusted the three of them to no end.

They were strong and worked well together, making it hard for them to die, but taking down the Spider Queen was almost impossible.

If it were just her, it wouldn’t be as bad, but she had a whole Choir with her!

This delay took up their time, and instead of finding Ling Mo, they ended up exhausted, often staying up all night to keep watch.

Normally, if they encountered other zombies, they could at least escape if they couldn’t win, but this variation zombie seemed to be following them…

“This is too bizarre!” Mu Chen had roared more than once.

But little did they know, the Spider Queen wasn’t specifically targeting them but happened to be on the same path with the same objective! It would be strange if they hadn’t run into each other.

“It seems you know?” Xu Shuhan observed Ling Mo’s expression and said.

“There is one…” Ling Mo nodded, while also observing them.

“That’s great! You see, wandering outside is very dangerous. If you could introduce us and let us join, we would be very grateful,” Mu Chen added. “We can do any kind of work, please, take us in!” His expression was quite sincere, and even a bit pitiable.

“Haha… planning to come over as spies, huh…” Ling Mo thought, amused.

Ling Mo was almost certain these people were from Niepan. Although they didn’t have any markings on their foreheads, surviving under the Spider Queen’s grasp for so many days without a single serious injury was a remarkable feat… They looked a bit battered, but the fact that they were unscathed was impressive!

People like them, capable of organizing teams, could easily find survivors in the city and become bosses by blending in. Why bother joining someone else?

Moreover, there were no other survivors around the TV Station. Risking their lives in this area just to be errand runners at another survivor base? Who would believe that!

When something seems off, it usually is, and Ling Mo knew this well.

“So, what’s the decision? Are you core members or even the boss?” Mu Chen had been babbling non-stop since he appeared and now approached Ling Mo with an overly familiar attitude. “Big brother1, I’m Mu Chen. What’s your name? You must be a superhuman, right? So impressive…”

Ling Mo looked at Mu Chen’s face and couldn’t help but think to himself, “He’s clearly older than me, calling me big brother so casually?”

Ling Mo had assumed all of Niepan’s members were like Jianqi, putting on airs. He didn’t expect there to be someone like Mu Chen.

“This is Xu Shuhan. She talks to herself all the time; just ignore her. And this one who doesn’t talk, that’s Xia Zhi. You can ignore him too. Hahaha…” Mu Chen raised his arm to drape it around Ling Mo’s shoulders, but Ling Mo subtly moved to avoid him.

Ignore both of them? The one he most wanted to ignore was Mu Chen himself!

Footnote:

1. Big Brother(大哥): “Big brother” in Chinese culture is a term of respect and endearment. It is often used to address someone who is older, more experienced, or someone you look up to, even if they are not your actual brother. It’s a way to show respect and establish a friendly relationship.

In the passage, Mu Chen is using “big brother” to show respect and admiration towards Ling Mo, despite Ling Mo being younger. This might seem strange to Ling Mo because, typically, the term would be used for someone older. However, Mu Chen’s use of the term indicates his respect and perhaps an attempt to build a rapport quickly.

So, while “big brother” can literally mean an older male sibling, in this case, it’s being used more metaphorically to convey respect and familiarity.