Chapter 127 – Chicken Flavor, Crunchy

“What?”

Li Yalin’s sudden remark left Ling Mo stunned. What was going on?

From the moment Ling Mo saw Li Yalin, he had tensed all his muscles, psychically preparing himself for a close-quarters combat with this Advanced Zombie.

But he never expected that in such a tense, knife-edge atmosphere, Li Yalin would suddenly speak!

And from her demeanor, it didn’t seem like she was planning to attack Ling Mo immediately.

Their last encounter had been in a dark office, but now that they were in a brighter place, Ling Mo could see Li Yalin clearly.

She was dressed in a tracksuit, though it was so filthy that its original color was no longer discernible. Her hair was matted with blood, covering most of her face.

However, her defined features and tall stature, combined with the unique aura of an Advanced Zombie, made Li Yalin look not terrifying at all. In fact, she didn’t seem much different from an ordinary Survivor girl.

If it weren’t for the fact that he had almost become her victim before, Ling Mo might have even had a moment of delusion.

For instance, he might think that this zombie in front of him was actually harmless… “Ha! Harmless? She almost gnawed me like a drumstick before. She might even think I taste like chicken!”

Remembering the previous ambush brought Ling Mo back to his senses quickly. As he cursed inwardly, he looked at Li Yalin with suspicion.

Although Li Yalin didn’t seem like she was about to attack him now, an Advanced Zombie could move incredibly fast once they decided to. He couldn’t afford to let his guard down.

Indeed, he and Li Yalin could be considered acquaintances, but this “familiarity” was pretty much one-sided.

Li Yalin was a well-known figure at school, so it wasn’t surprising that Ling Mo remembered her. However, Li Yalin likely didn’t know who Ling Mo was.

Though it wasn’t exactly the tragedy of the poor, it was often the way things went.

In truth, hearing Li Yalin speak suddenly, the first thought that popped into Ling Mo’s mind was: This is nonsense, right?

However, on second thought, Li Yalin was known for her “three highs” back in the day: height, intelligence, and high standards.

It wasn’t entirely impossible that she had noticed him a few times and remembered his face. After all, that sort of thing could happen.

And judging by Li Yalin’s expression, she recognized Ling Mo’s appearance but didn’t know his name or recall any specific connection between them.

In other words, she had only a vague impression of him.

Unfortunately, no matter how high her IQ was before, once mutated, everything had to start from scratch.

To use a somewhat unreliable analogy, ordinary zombies were like mindless embryos. These “embryos” had such formidable destructive power that they could easily overpower normal humans. Of course, this only referred to physical attributes like strength and speed. Humans had various survival skills, and any Survivor with a bit of common sense could find ways to stay alive.

Direct combat might not work, but they could always use the terrain or different tools to fight, right?

Mutation Zombies, however, began to show the first signs of consciousness. Once they evolved into Advanced Zombies, they gained true self-awareness.

To put it inappropriately, Advanced Zombies finally broke free from the “embryo” stage of mindlessness.

From the current situation, it was clear that after becoming an Advanced Zombie, Li Yalin had regained some of her human memories.

Perhaps attacking Ling Mo had awakened some deep-seated, blurry memories in her mind.

Ling Mo surmised that her relentless pursuit of him was likely due to this reason, rather than her targeting his healthy physique.

After all, he was just an ordinary person. In terms of tasty flesh, he probably didn’t even compare to a typical Mutation Zombie.

“My taste can’t be that appealing, at least not enough to make an Advanced Zombie go to such lengths to eat me,” Ling Mo thought seriously.

So, the more likely scenario is that Li Yalin had some impression of Ling Mo, which piqued her curiosity and made her follow him all the way from X City University to here.

However, she seemed to have gotten smarter this time. Instead of attacking immediately upon meeting, she adopted a defensive stance.

The fact that she waited until Ling Mo was alone to appear clearly showed that she was wary of Ye Lian and Xia Na, her fellow Advanced Zombies.

In terms of individual strength, Li Yalin, as an Advanced Zombie, was naturally stronger than Ling Mo. But in a direct confrontation, with Ye Lian and Xia Na assisting, and Ling Mo himself continuously ambushing from the side, taking down Li Yalin wouldn’t be too difficult.

While talking to Ling Mo, Li Yalin stood at the door, holding the wooden stick horizontally in front of her.

Her gaze inadvertently swept over the short knife in Ling Mo’s hand, and she instinctively frowned.

That knife had nearly killed her before. Seeing it now made her tense up immediately.

“I… I… remember you…” Li Yalin said cautiously, her eyes fixed on Ling Mo as she slowly squeezed out the words.

Possibly due to never speaking since her mutation, or perhaps because she had recovered so little of her memory, she found it very difficult to talk, to the point where Ling Mo felt a bit anxious just listening to her.

Ling Mo’s tense nerves gradually relaxed. Since Li Yalin didn’t seem intent on making him her dinner right away, there was no need for him to be overly nervous.

“Do you remember who you are?” Ling Mo thought for a moment and then asked.

Li Yalin’s eyes flashed with confusion. After a moment, she shook her head and reached up to grab her long hair. “Li…”

“Yalin, Li Yalin. Do you remember?” Ling Mo sighed inwardly and continued to prompt her.

With Ling Mo’s hint, a look of sudden realization dawned on Li Yalin’s face. “Yes, I remember… Li Yalin, that’s me…” Then she glanced at Ling Mo with some confusion. “But I don’t remember… your…”

“Alright, don’t force it. I know what you’re trying to say. It’s normal not to remember my name; we weren’t exactly close before,” Ling Mo said.

Li Yalin’s difficulty with speaking left Ling Mo feeling quite helpless. He thought that if she could interact with people more, she might gradually get the hang of it.

Unfortunately, as an Advanced Zombie, she had no such opportunities to converse with humans. Any Survivor she encountered would likely be killed by her within moments.

The reason she was able to stand there talking to Ling Mo was partly because she had some impression of him and partly because she was wary of his strength.

After hearing Ling Mo’s words, Li Yalin fell silent for a moment. However, from the look in her eyes, it was clear that regaining some memories and having the ability to think had sparked a strong curiosity about herself.

Naturally, she was also very interested in Ling Mo, who seemed familiar to her.

“I…”

But just then, she suddenly turned to look behind her!

The sudden appearance of two figures caught Li Yalin completely off guard!

Even though she reacted immediately to the ambush, raising her wooden stick to block the attack, trying to fend off knives with a stick was suicidal.

This lack of basic common sense was perhaps the greatest flaw of an Advanced Zombie. With a sharp crack, the wooden stick in Li Yalin’s hand snapped, and two flashes of cold steel aimed straight for her head.

However, the strength of an Advanced Zombie was indeed extraordinary. Despite the vulnerability of her makeshift weapon, which plunged her into immediate danger, Li Yalin managed to grab the wall beside her at the last moment. Her nails dug deeply into the wall, and with sheer force, she performed a flip along the wall, narrowly avoiding the combined attack from Xia Na and Ye Lian!

“Boom!”

As Li Yalin ripped away a large section of the wall, a choking cloud of white dust filled the warehouse.

Ling Mo was left dumbfounded by this scene. Initially, he had engaged Li Yalin to buy time for Xia Na and Ye Lian’s ambush. He hadn’t expected Li Yalin to be so formidable.

This display of strength indicated that her evolution was definitely beyond that of Ye Lian!

“She’s incredibly tough…” Ling Mo muttered to himself as he glanced at the peeled wall, marveling at Li Yalin’s raw power.

The clear five-finger indentations in the wall made Ling Mo acutely aware of Li Yalin’s formidable strength. In terms of raw power, only the Advanced Zombie with brute strength from the Peace Theater could compare to her.

More crucially, her reaction speed was astonishing, and she exhibited a high level of intelligence. Otherwise, an ordinary Advanced Zombie, even in a life-or-death situation, wouldn’t have thought of such a way to escape.

After temporarily evading danger, Li Yalin was clearly infuriated. Although Ye Lian and Xia Na’s attack had missed, they quickly recovered and cornered her from both sides.

Ling Mo, standing at a distance with a Short Knife in hand, had his Psychic Tentacle ready.

Though she was his Senior Sister, Li Yalin had relentlessly pursued him twice, and Ling Mo wasn’t about to let her off easily this time.

Talking to her was partly about reminiscing and curiosity, but mostly it was to buy time.

Despite Li Yalin’s quick evasions, she couldn’t fight off everyone at once. Just as she was about to charge in a rage, Ling Mo’s Psychic Tentacle caused a brief moment of hesitation.

The pause lasted less than a second, but it was enough for Ye Lian and Xia Na.

“Bang!”

Xia Na swiftly moved behind Li Yalin and struck her hindbrain with the knife handle. Li Yalin’s eyes rolled back, and she immediately collapsed.

A powerful Advanced Zombie had been captured just like that!