Chapter 688 – It’s All Your Fault That I Can’t Persist

Bang…

A piece of charred metal fell from the ruins of a devastated building and rolled to a stop at Ling Mo’s feet.

Ling Mo stood still, gazing at the mall in the distance, which was still billowing smoke, his expression grim.

He hadn’t expected the fire to spread across nearly half the street. Throughout the entire night, the sky had been illuminated by the flames.

It wasn’t until dawn that the fire began to die down.

Although he had somewhat prepared himself mentally, Ling Mo was still stunned when he and his group arrived and saw the scene before them.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Ling Mo reached up to pat his forehead, saying.

With the fire so intense and almost all the zombies in the city attracted to it, whether the bird zombie was dead or not, it would be impossible to find it now.

“Feeling sorry for the mother hive?” Xia Na’s voice suddenly came from the side.

Ling Mo glanced at her and admitted, “Yeah, it’s King level…”

“Your terrible naming skills finally came in handy, huh? But seriously, while the mother hive is important, it’s more important that both you and Ye Lian are safe. So, look on the bright side.” Xia Na turned her face slightly and smiled.

“That is true…” Ling Mo also smiled.

After the upgrade, Xia Na’s more human side seemed to appear more often than before…

“Besides, with such a high-purity mother hive, which common zombie could guard it? Even if one swallowed it, they’d immediately be disemboweled by the others.”

Xia Na’s expression suddenly turned strange, and her voice lowered.

Ling Mo was taken aback by the speed of her mood change…

But the key point was what Xia Na was saying. Upon calming down and thinking it over, she was indeed right…

“The zombies in this town are numerous, but there’s only one truly advanced zombie. Clearly, any zombie that shows even a hint of advancement automatically becomes part of its menu. Coupled with the fact that we’ve hunted down most of the mid-level zombies, there’s no zombie left capable of swallowing that mother hive in front of the others.”

“So, this King level Zombie is most likely still alive.”

After her analysis, Xia Na mischievously winked at Ling Mo.

Ling Mo looked at Xia Na in surprise. Since shedding her humanity, Xia Na’s rationality and intelligence immediately came to the fore. It’s not that Xia Na wasn’t smart when she was human, but her overly considerate nature often led her to make decisions that Ling Mo found foolish.

Now, as a zombie, her two personas had merged perfectly.

At least her analytical skills were strong. Despite the chaos and not personally experiencing many events, she could deduce so much just by hearing Ling Mo’s brief recount and observing the scene.

Most importantly, she wasn’t swayed by emotions, unlike Ling Mo, who would be depressed by such situations.

“It does make sense… Unfortunately, the King level Zombie’s stealth skills are too advanced; it’s hard to find it on purpose. It’s probably hiding even more carefully if it’s injured,” Ling Mo said regretfully.

“If it’s really not dead, it definitely won’t let you go. Don’t worry about it,” Xia Na said with a playful smile.

“No matter how I respond to that, it’s going to sound weird…” Ling Mo said, twitching at the corner of his eye.

As Ling Mo and Xia Na walked back from the crumbled wall ahead, Mu Chen and the others, who were hiding in the narrow alley, immediately came forward.

“How did it go?” Mu Chen asked.

“It’s full of zombies up ahead, we can’t go this way anymore. But the good news is that most of the town’s zombies are concentrated in that area, so we can take a detour safely,” Ling Mo explained simply.

“This is your way of clearing the path? Not bad,” Mu Chen praised.

“Yeah…” Ling Mo suppressed a laugh and nodded.

It was a bit of a bonus after all. After carefully leaving the area, the group entered a “safe zone” where no zombies could be seen.

Every time Mu Chen traveled, he would sneak around like a rat. But this time, he finally got to enjoy walking right in the middle of the road. He was just short of shouting in excitement.

After confirming that Xiao Bai and Yu Shiran were still following safely, Ling Mo also felt a lot more relaxed.

A seemingly endless long street, without a single zombie on the road, gave everyone the pleasant feeling of striding forward without constantly watching their backs.

Such a situation could only be seen in a small town like Xinlan. In a big city like X City, zombies would only gather more densely, making it impossible to walk anywhere without encountering them.

“I wonder how Niepan headquarters is doing…” Ling Mo couldn’t help but think.

With Ye Lian’s advancement, and the upgrades to the other female zombies and the mutation beast, Ling Mo felt much more confident.

His several encounters with Niepan had piqued his intense interest in the organization’s mystery and strength.

What kind of place would such a base be rooted in?

He reached back to touch his backpack, and the image of the notebook flashed in his mind.

The person who wrote that notebook… who could they be…

“By the way,” Xu Shuhan, who hadn’t spoken much, suddenly hesitated and then said, “can we find a clothing store soon…”

As she spoke, she awkwardly tugged at her torn coat.

While in a state of confusion, she had almost shredded her inner clothes. Was this group really planning to let her walk to headquarters like this?

Didn’t anyone notice?!

It was understandable that the three female zombies lacked common sense, but Mu Chen probably hadn’t thought of this either…

Xu Shuhan felt both embarrassed and angry as she looked at Ling Mo, covering her collar and giving a dry cough.

“Oh right, my clothes are almost worn out too…” Ling Mo said, patting his ragged jacket.

“Worn out, my foot… How did I end up knowing this idiot!” Xu Shuhan ground her teeth and her eyes reddened further. She felt that if she couldn’t make it to headquarters, it would most likely be because this jerk had driven her crazy…

“But this street is pretty much the border between Xinlan and Cuihu; there’s no Clothing Store around here… we’ll check in Cuihu,” Ling Mo said, casually tossing a jacket to Xu Shuhan. “Make do with this for now.”

Xu Shuhan caught it and blushed slightly.

She had just been cursing him in her mind…

“Thanks,” Xu Shuhan said softly.

“You’re welcome. I’m going to change it out anyway,” Ling Mo said generously.

“…” Xu Shuhan bit her lower lip again, realizing that Ling Mo really didn’t see her as a girl at all…

For some reason, Xu Shuhan suddenly remembered the scene she saw on the stairs.

Ye Lian had her head down, while Ling Mo whispered something softly in her ear, with an expression of tenderness that Xu Shuhan had never seen on him before.

Ling Mo only showed that kind of look when facing Ye Lian and the other two.

“In his eyes, are zombies no different from people?” Xu Shuhan thought to herself, feeling much less angry.

At least, even if she mutated, there would still be one human who didn’t see her as a monster.

As for Mu Chen… just thinking about his startled reactions made Xu Shuhan roll her eyes.

If anything, she wouldn’t want to eat him!

The group walked for over two hours, alternating between moving and stopping, before finally entering Cuihu City.

Zombies began to appear sporadically along the way. Initially, they thought it wouldn’t be much trouble to clear them out, but they soon found out that these zombies were much fiercer than the common zombies in other areas.

Even though these zombies were still at the bottom tier of zombie groups, their innate instincts were clearly on a higher level than those in other regions.

Their first reaction upon discovering prey wasn’t to immediately attack, but rather… to howl!

Their desperate howls could instantly echo for hundreds of meters around. Considering the acute hearing of zombies, even those farther away might be drawn over.

Ling Mo and the others were caught off guard at first. By the time Ling Mo’s tentacle pierced through the zombie, it had already let out its call.

Soon, more zombies came rushing out from every crevice, and the calls began to rise and fall continuously.

“This is a freaking choir!”

Mu Chen raised his gun, cautiously on guard.

At moments like this, he still managed to maintain the necessary composure.

Ling Mo continuously took down several zombies charging at the front. The group fought while retreating and soon approached an auto repair shop by the roadside.

The number of zombies on the street was increasing, and having learned from their previous experiences, these zombies surprisingly didn’t rush forward. Instead, they began to form a surrounding circle, gathering together.

Ling Mo glanced at the corpses on the ground and noticed that most of the zombies weren’t showing any interest.

“That’s strange…”

Ling Mo frowned as he took down another zombie, then quickly retreated into the auto repair shop following Mu Chen’s urging.

Mu Chen and Xu Shuhan, who had prepared in advance, simultaneously grabbed the roller shutter door and forcefully pulled it down.

Although the roller shutter door was rusty, the two pulling it weren’t ordinary people. After a loud clanging noise, they managed to shut out the light.

“This will only temporarily block their view. Let’s move to the back quickly,” Mu Chen urged.

Auto repair shops like this usually had a Parking Lot at the back. The front area was mostly a reception room. Ling Mo wasn’t as familiar with these places as Mu Chen, so he extended his psychic tentacle and followed behind.

“This way! I used to come to places like this all the time to get my car repaired,” Mu Chen said, leading the way while bragging a bit.

“So you had a car and a house, huh? Guess you were doing pretty well back then…” Ling Mo casually replied.

“And then it all went down to zero overnight…” Xia Na added.

Mu Chen almost bit his tongue, turning to look angrily at Xia Na.

“What? I even had a villa back then. It’s good enough to be alive now; what’s the point of thinking about the past?” Xia Na snorted.

“Do you have to be so cruel? I thought I could finally find some confidence…” Mu Chen said helplessly.

The group quickly moved towards the back of the repair shop, while the sound of banging on the roller shutter door could already be heard.