Chapter 144 – The Fierce Punch of a Delicate Fist

Ding Yu’s cry for help made Ling Mo pause for a moment, but he quickly realized that even if those two could hear him, by the time they got dressed and rushed over, everything on his end would already be settled.

By then, he would have controlled the Zombie Puppets to run outside, and who would guess there were three more people in the next room? Taking advantage of the chaos to slip away, everything would be done without anyone being the wiser.

If it weren’t for Xia Na insisting on watching Ding Yu get beaten up, Ling Mo wouldn’t even have needed to come here personally.

However, to finish things quickly, Ling Mo immediately increased the frequency of his attacks. The two Zombie Puppets coordinated with each other, and the attacks became exceedingly frenzied, significantly boosting their combat effectiveness.

The reason he had adopted a probing approach earlier was mainly to train his Puppet Control skills. Usually, his Zombie Puppets were used to fight Zombies, and he had nearly formed a fixed attack pattern.

But that pattern wasn’t very effective against Survivors because, compared to Zombies, Survivors’ greatest advantage was their weapons and their flexible, varied attack and evasion methods.

Not to mention that his target was a superhuman. To make the Zombie Puppets fully effective, he had to control them with greater precision.

Initially, Ling Mo’s control was somewhat stiff. The reason Ding Yu was being beaten down was that the coordination and actions of the two Zombie Puppets were beyond Ding Yu’s understanding, naturally putting him at a disadvantage in terms of momentum.

Although Ding Yu was now only able to defend himself, it was clear that he was gradually becoming familiar with the attack patterns of the two Zombie Puppets and was looking for opportunities to counterattack.

But Ding Yu didn’t know that as he was familiarizing himself with the two Zombie Puppets, Ling Mo was also constantly exploring better control methods.

If Ling Mo had to engage in some sort of dual-hand combat himself, it would be quite challenging. However, simultaneously issuing different Psychic commands to different Zombie Puppets to achieve such an effect was much easier.

He had undergone extensive training in this area. By focusing his attention on the two Zombie Puppets at this moment, the effects of his usual training were gradually becoming evident.

As the two Zombie Puppets moved faster and their attack methods became more varied, their coordination also grew more seamless.

Ding Yu had not expected the Zombies to become so fierce after his cry for help, and he immediately regretted his earlier arrogance.

He silently cursed himself for his overconfidence. Usually, he prided himself on not being a burden and held others to the same standard. But if he had shown a bit more team awareness and called for help at the first sign of attack, he wouldn’t be in such a miserable state now.

He struggled to fend off the attacks, his sides taking countless heavy blows, causing unbearable pain. Anxiously, he hoped for Luo Heng and Zhang Ning to come to his rescue, but he also felt a pang of complex emotions.

He had always believed that his decisions were rational and correct, but now he found himself doubting that certainty.

Did Luo Heng and Zhang Ning hear him? Could it be that they heard but decided not to help because of his usual aloofness?

No… that shouldn’t be the case. He was a superhuman, valuable to them… but… Luo Heng and Zhang Ning weren’t like him; they didn’t measure a person’s worth by their utility…

Ding Yu’s slight distraction was immediately exploited by the Zombies. One of them delivered a vicious leg sweep to his ribs, while the other landed a heavy uppercut on his nose.

“Buzz!”

The intense pain left Ding Yu momentarily dazed, his vision blurred.

His nose felt as if it had been hit with pepper spray, excruciatingly painful, and a warm stream of blood began to flow out.

Blood gushing from his nose, Ding Yu staggered back several steps. Just as he was about to crash into the floor-to-ceiling window behind him, a figure suddenly appeared on the balcony. In a flash, the figure yanked open the window and delivered a brutal punch to the back of Ding Yu’s head.

Ding Yu’s body stiffened, and he collapsed straight to the ground.

Ling Mo was shocked and quickly controlled one of the Zombie Puppets to catch Ding Yu, gently lowering him to the floor to avoid making any noise that might alert the two lovebirds next door.

The one who knocked Ding Yu out was, of course, Xia Na. She couldn’t resist the smell of fresh blood and rushed over from the balcony.

These two rooms were connected by a shared balcony, but Ding Yu would never have imagined that there was also a Zombie hiding on the balcony.

Ling Mo quickly ran across the balcony with Ye Lian, but during this time, Xia Na, with a slight, eerie smile on her face, twisted her neck and wrists before squatting down in front of Ding Yu. She grabbed his collar and yanked him up from the ground.

“Hey… Xia Na, didn’t we agree that I would handle this?”

Ling Mo’s main body had just appeared outside the floor-to-ceiling window when Xia Na, still smiling gleefully, punched Ding Yu’s left eye.

The pain caused the unconscious Ding Yu to let out a muffled groan, but this sound was quickly drowned out by a rapid series of “thud, thud” sounds.

With Xia Na’s strength and speed, throwing a dozen punches in a second was no problem at all. Blood quickly covered her fists, but the more miserably Ding Yu was beaten, the redder Xia Na’s eyes became and the more excited she looked.

Ding Yu would have woken up, but after such a fierce beating, he was thoroughly knocked out.

When Xia Na finally let go of Ding Yu, Ling Mo reluctantly took a look and felt a chill run down his spine.

“He’s beaten so badly… he probably won’t recover for a month. And did you break his nose? You’ve pretty much disfigured him for a while. Even when he heals, there might be some lasting effects.”

Ling Mo crouched down to inspect Ding Yu’s injuries and whispered.

His two Zombie Puppets had also beaten Ding Yu, but their attacks were mostly focused on his waist. Although they left him in a terrible state, the injuries were mostly internal, with little visible damage.

Moreover, Ling Mo had controlled their strength, causing intense pain without inflicting too much actual damage.

A few days of rest, and Ding Yu would be fine.

After all, Luo Heng’s team still needed Ding Yu. In situations where they couldn’t use guns, Ding Yu was likely their strongest combatant.

Killing Ding Yu would directly reduce Luo Heng’s group’s survival rate, which would indirectly harm them.

So, at least on one point, Ding Yu was very correct: he was valuable to Luo Heng and his team.

Ding Yu possessed the qualities of a capable survivor—cautious and rational. However, in Ling Mo’s view, his thinking still had some shortcomings.

By openly suggesting abandoning someone, Ding Yu had created an irreversible rift in their relationship. Yet, his opinion wasn’t decisive enough to prevent Wang Lin, who was dissatisfied with him, from staying in the team.

Wasn’t this just asking for trouble? His current beating was entirely self-inflicted.

One reason Ling Mo agreed to let him get beaten was that he had another idea in mind—temporarily reducing Ding Yu to the status of a burden, so he could taste what it felt like to be a liability.

Once he had to rely on others’ care, his somewhat extreme views would naturally change.

At least, he would learn to make better judgments in different situations; otherwise, he would eventually pay a heavier price and potentially drag Luo Heng’s group down with him.

Although Xia Na’s beating wouldn’t severely impact Ding Yu’s mobility, it would make him hard to face others… “Hmph, he made me unhappy, so I can’t let him off easily. You hit too lightly; it doesn’t even show.”

Xia Na casually smiled, extending her blood-stained hand toward Ling Mo and showing a seemingly “innocent” smile, “Ling-Ge, help me wipe my hand…”

“You…”

Ling Mo sighed helplessly. He pulled out some tissues from his pocket and cleaned the blood off Xia Na’s hand.

The strength of an Advanced Zombie was indeed extraordinary. Although her body seemed unchanged, this seemingly delicate hand contained immense power.

These long, pale fingers could pierce through a human body. Clearly, Xia Na had held back. It seemed she remembered Ling Mo’s words well and didn’t recklessly beat Ding Yu to death.

Even Ye Lian chimed in, “Hmm… hitting like this… is more fun…”

“People aren’t playthings. At least, you can’t just play with them randomly.”

Ling Mo felt an instant headache and said helplessly.

The mindset of Zombies and humans was vastly different. No matter how human-like their appearance was or how much of their human memories they regained, the day they started treating humans as prey marked a fundamental change in their nature.

However, Ling Mo was mentally prepared for this outcome. At least they viewed him differently, which was already a good sign.

Thinking about this, his mood improved. After all, they wouldn’t dare to mess with him; instead, they obediently let him do whatever he wanted!

Seeing that Ding Yu wouldn’t die, Ling Mo called Ye Lian and Xia Na to quietly follow him downstairs. As they passed by Luo Heng and Zhang Ning’s room, he paused with a mischievous smile, listening until he heard a scream from inside before quickly leading the two girls away.

Back in their room, Ling Mo first ensured Wang Lin’s safety before turning his attention back to his two Zombie Puppets.

“Since you’ve finished your business, come out and help me complete this act.”

Ling Mo controlled one of the Zombie Puppets to pick up a sofa chair and throw it forcefully onto the ground.

“Thud!”

The loud noise caused the ground to shake violently.

Falling plaster dusted Luo Heng and Zhang Ning, who were still basking in their afterglow. They were caught off guard by the sudden disturbance.

“Something must have happened to Ding Yu!”

Zhang Ning quickly got dressed, grabbed her handgun, and rushed out the door. Luo Heng reluctantly pulled up his pants, grabbed his rifle, and followed her upstairs, limping on his injured leg.

The two arrived at Ding Yu’s room one after the other. Seeing Ding Yu lying on the floor and two Zombies, Zhang Ning’s face turned pale. But as she raised her gun, the two Zombies retreated from the balcony as if frightened. They then climbed out, landing on the second-floor air conditioner unit with a “thud.”

Seeing the two Zombies leave, Zhang Ning cautiously approached the balcony with her gun to confirm. She saw that they had indeed disappeared into the night before turning her attention to Ding Yu on the floor.

By this time, Luo Heng had also arrived at the doorway. Holding his rifle warily, he saw that besides the miserable-looking Ding Yu and the recently arrived Zhang Ning, there was no one else in the room.

“What happened?” Luo Heng hurriedly limped over to Ding Yu and immediately checked his carotid artery. After a moment, he sighed with relief, “He’s still alive.”

Zhang Ning lowered her gun and walked over to check on Ding Yu, saying, “It might have been those Advanced Zombies. If we hadn’t heard the commotion and come in time, he would’ve been dead. Those two Zombies were quite strange; they seemed to know the danger of guns.”

“Maybe they saw us shooting earlier today. Those Zombies have decent intelligence. Even animals are deterred by the death of their kind, let alone Advanced Zombies…”

Luo Heng said dismissively. However, he was still deeply shaken. Could those Zombies have come specifically to attack and retaliate against them?

This thought was strikingly similar to Ding Yu’s earlier suspicion…