Chapter 147 – The Hand That Pinched His Butt

Although there were plenty of supplies on this street, two groups were searching through them. They had to pick out usable items from the damaged goods, so it didn’t take long for most of the supplies to be exhausted.

Actually, Ling Mo’s group finished the quickest. However, the Zombie Puppets he controlled had to search carefully through the ruins, even moving aside the remains of the dead, which slowed their progress considerably.

The mall’s ruins weren’t extensive, but the bodies inside were almost entirely burned to ashes, most of them charred beyond recognition.

Although they were zombies in life, after being burned, their bodies were no different from those of ordinary people.

Without his Puppet Control Ability, even Ling Mo’s strong nerves wouldn’t have allowed him to set foot in such a place.

Even now, using Zombie Puppets to search the area was a significant challenge to Ling Mo’s endurance.

To avoid becoming nauseous, Ling Mo controlled the Zombie Puppets to punch their own noses, temporarily dealing with the strong smell that came with shared senses.

While controlling the Zombie Puppets, Ling Mo noticed that these puppets were generally stronger than the ordinary zombies he had initially controlled. This confirmed his previous suspicion. Although the number of zombies was decreasing, their overall quality was slowly improving.

Of course, the survivors had also endured the first round of elimination and were being forced to adapt to this harsh environment.

The future remained uncertain, but Ling Mo knew at least he wouldn’t be crushed by the current reality. To struggle and survive in this frenzy, he could do even more nerve-wracking things than digging through piles of corpses.

In the apocalypse, many things had to be done out of necessity.

Ling Mo considered himself somewhat lucky; at least he had some strength and could occasionally act according to his own whims.

For instance, saving Luo Heng… as the saying goes, “Helping others is the root of happiness.” Moreover, Luo Heng was capable of establishing a base, which paved a path for Ling Mo’s future.

The Zombie Puppets continued searching for virus gel. To avoid arousing Luo Heng and his group’s suspicion, Ling Mo pretended to be gathering supplies in a shop. In reality, he was taking the opportunity to grope Ye Lian and Xia Na.

Li Yalin occasionally glanced their way. As an Advanced Zombie, she shouldn’t feel jealous of the intimacy between two of her kind and a human.

Yet, for some reason, she seemed very interested in their playful interactions. Her eyes followed Ling Mo’s hand, watching as it lingered on the sensitive areas of Xia Na and Ye Lian.

Seeing Ye Lian and Xia Na’s mixed expressions of evasion, discomfort, and apparent pleasure, Li Yalin almost subconsciously reached behind herself and gave her own butt a hard pinch.

“No… no feeling…”

Li Yalin frowned, watching Ye Lian sway slightly against Ling Mo after being slapped on the butt. Her eyes showed a trace of confusion.

After a delay of over ten minutes, the Zombie Puppets Ling Mo controlled finally gathered all the granular virus gel from the ruins and handed it to one of the zombies.

This Zombie Puppet quietly circled to the back of the street, then slipped into the shop where Ling Mo was, handing him the virus gel.

Although a single piece of virus gel looked small, the cumulative amount from the entire ruins filled about half a bag. With such purity, it would be enough to sustain three Advanced Zombies for a long time.

This relieved Ling Mo. At least for now, he didn’t have to worry about their food supply.

Now he could focus on going to Xia Na’s house to find her a new knife. He might even find a more suitable weapon for himself.

He also wanted to arm Li Yalin. Her abilities were already stronger than Ye Lian’s and Xia Na’s, but she was currently injured and couldn’t perform at her best.

The main reason she fell to Ling Mo was due to her lack of a proper weapon.

Although Li Yalin had a strong learning ability and knew to look for a weapon like Ling Mo, only a mindless zombie would think it wise to use a rotten wooden stick against a sharp blade. Now that she was one of Ling Mo’s Zombie Puppets, he couldn’t let her suffer because of that.

Given her formidable strength, Ling Mo intended to fully utilize her potential, ensuring she could unleash the powerful combat abilities expected of an Advanced Zombie.

“Alright, that’s enough. Since it’s still early, let’s head to Baihua District. Senior Sister, you know the general direction, right? We’ll rely on you.”

Ling Mo carefully sealed the bag of gel and placed it in his pack before speaking.

These virus gels were so resilient that even high temperatures couldn’t completely destroy them. Whether they were inherently this robust or had mutated over time, Ling Mo thought of them as being as dangerous as carrying a bundle of explosives. It was best to handle them with caution. Although he knew by now that the virus gels wouldn’t infect humans through skin contact, the virus was always evolving, so it was better to be safe.

Li Yalin glanced at him, somewhat bewildered. Seeing Ling Mo’s impatient expression, she slowly nodded and quietly let go of her butt, which she had been pinching. “Okay.”

“Go tell Luo Heng and the others that we’re leaving,” Ling Mo said.

He didn’t notice Li Yalin’s subtle movements. Having recently collected enough saliva from Ye Lian and Xia Na, Ling Mo felt invigorated and full of energy, ready for the journey ahead.

At this time, Luo Heng and his group were enthusiastically gathering various scarce supplies from the shops along the street. They had originally prepared four large backpacks. While Luo Heng could still manage to carry one, the injured Wang Lin was currently unable to help.

“We’ll have to temporarily give up on some of these items,” Luo Heng said, regretfully looking around the shop. Although many of the things here seemed useless to Ling Mo, for the average survivor, even expired food that hadn’t yet molded or rotted was edible. If a survivor got food poisoning from eating such things, it only meant their stomach hadn’t adapted to this harsh world and they deserved to be eliminated.

Zhang Ning glanced at Luo Heng and comforted him, “If we travel light, we can move faster. Once we leave this district, the number of zombies will gradually decrease. When we reach the outskirts, we can find more food there. I know completing this plan makes you happy, but there’s no need to be overly concerned.”

Luo Heng gave Zhang Ning a complex look. She had taken advantage of his inability to resist and forced herself on him… It was something Luo Heng found hard to deal with.

His current behavior was mostly because he still couldn’t face Zhang Ning calmly.

Why could Zhang Ning act so indifferent?

Fortunately, Ding Yu interjected, though his swollen face made his voice somewhat painful to hear: “Zhang Ning is right; we should travel light and leave here quickly. From what I heard, those two zombies only ran away, not killed. What if they come back tonight? If they’re tracking us, it could be even worse.”

“That’s true,” Luo Heng nodded, looking at the three filled backpacks. “Let’s check a few more shops, and then we’ll prepare to leave.”

As they stepped out of the shop, they saw Ling Mo and his group quickly approaching along the wall.

Ding Yu couldn’t help but think they had moved pretty fast, suggesting they had gathered everything they needed. Meanwhile, Wang Lin stared at Ling Mo with a complex expression. She had found a hat to wear, but she probably hadn’t touched the back of her head since. Ling Mo couldn’t help but feel amused at the sight of her.

He wondered what her reaction would be when she finally discovered it.

Luo Heng couldn’t hide his excitement, but mindful of the zombies at the intersection, he kept his voice low: “Ling Mo, have you guys finished gathering supplies?”

Ling Mo took a few steps closer and nodded, “Yes, so we’re planning to leave ahead of you.”

“I see…” Luo Heng hesitated, then couldn’t help but ask again, “Ling Mo, are you sure you don’t want to…”

Ling Mo shook his head, “We’ve chosen different paths, but we’re both fighting to survive.”

Seeing Ling Mo’s resolute attitude, Luo Heng could only show a hint of regret. However, he then spoke earnestly: “Brother Ling, my family is in Lianhe Village, Xingfu Town, X City. If you ever get a chance to come to the countryside, you’re always welcome at our place. We’ll do our best to provide you with food and supplies. Of course, it’d be even better if you decided to stay with us.”

Though Luo Heng made this promise, Ding Yu, standing nearby, frowned but said nothing.

Ling Mo had saved half the team, making this more than just Luo Heng’s personal matter. It was understandable for Luo Heng to make such pledges on behalf of the team. The real reason Ding Yu held back his objections, however, was because Luo Heng and Zhang Ning had saved him. Seeing Ding Yu’s hesitant expression, Ling Mo couldn’t help but smile a little; it seemed this guy was learning quickly.

Ling Mo had anticipated this outcome, so he didn’t bother with false modesty. He simply nodded, “Alright. If the opportunity arises, I will. Also,” he turned to look at Wang Lin, who was hiding beside Zhang Ning, her eyes peeking out mischievously from under her cap.

Thinking back to when he first met her, she had displayed the typical spoiled attitude of a rich girl. Of course, she still had that attitude now, but she didn’t dare show it in front of Ling Mo and Xia Na.

At this moment, seeing Ling Mo looking at her, Wang Lin showed a mix of nervousness and anticipation. Despite her dislike for Ling Mo, her youthful heart still hoped to hear some kind words from him. Ling Mo stared at Wang Lin seriously for a moment, then took a deep breath and said earnestly, “Sister-in-law, try to be a little smarter!”

Wang Lin’s eyes widened immediately. What did he mean by that? Was he calling her stupid?!

Xia Na, standing nearby, also added nonchalantly, “You never beat me before, and now I’ve left you ten streets behind. Wang Lin, stop being so weak!”

If it weren’t for the group watching her, Wang Lin might have cried out of sheer frustration.

Were these their parting words? While everything they said was true, couldn’t they have said something a bit more heartfelt at this moment?

As she clenched her teeth, Wang Lin suddenly remembered that she herself had a sharp tongue…