Chapter 184 – Awakening Madness and the End of the Road

“Bang!”

The gunshot echoed through the room!

A deathly silence immediately fell over the room.

Ye Lian’s eyes widened as she stared at Hu Chuan, while beads of cold sweat instantly appeared on Ling Mo’s forehead.

On the ceiling, a bit of plaster fell, and anyone who looked up could see a clear bullet hole.

A few seconds later, Hu Chuan’s body stiffened and he suddenly dropped to his knees.

His blood-red eyes were wide open, a trickle of blood flowing from the top of his head, tracing a line down his face.

In the moment Hu Chuan raised his gun, Ling Mo’s defensive measures proved decisive.

While misleading him with a psychic power tentacle, a metal nail suddenly fell.

As Hu Chuan’s knees hit the ground, Ling Mo’s body swayed involuntarily. When he closed his eyes and opened them again, his face was filled with exhaustion.

Ye Lian quickly grabbed hold of him, asking, “Ling-Ge, are you… are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Ling Mo glanced at Hu Chuan, anger filling his eyes.

Although the target Hu Chuan wanted to kill wasn’t Ling Mo but the zombie Ye Lian, Ye Lian was Ling Mo’s soft spot!

From Hu Chuan’s perspective, he probably thought he did nothing wrong!

But Ling Mo didn’t see it that way; Ye Lian was his girlfriend, one of the people he cherished the most!

Even if she was a zombie, so what? Ling Mo had never wanted to be some savior, and even though his actions could be seen as betraying humanity, he didn’t care!

Besides, when had Ye Lian and Xia Na ever posed a threat to humanity?

Even Li Yalin, after forming a link with Ling Mo, had stopped proactively hurting humans.

“Wait… No, he still has a main body!”

Though Ling Mo didn’t know what had happened to Hu Chuan’s main body, this was just one of his avatars!

Ling Mo immediately became alert, rushing into the room and looking around.

Meanwhile, the gunshot had alarmed the others downstairs.

“Ling-Ge!”

“Ling Mo!”

“Monster… I mean, Ling Mo!”

Xia Na, Li Yalin, Meng Jiayu, and even 2, immediately rushed into the building.

Guo Chao was momentarily stunned. By the time he came to his senses, he was the only one left standing there.

“There was a gunshot. Who died? Could Ling Mo be finished?”

As soon as this thought crossed his mind, a flicker of happiness surged through him.

But then he wondered if he might be a bit too cold-hearted. After all, it was because of Ling Mo that they were here now…

“I’ve been patient and respectful enough these past few days! I’ve been putting on a smiling face! Besides, it wasn’t me who killed him…”

Guo Chao quickly shrugged off the slight guilt, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

“Got to at least put on the right show…”

He glanced up the stairs before hurrying inside the building.

Meanwhile, in a small room within the building, a strange noise suddenly erupted.

“Roarrr!”

It sounded like a low growl, or the sudden release of pent-up breath.

Simultaneously, a figure suddenly sat upright from a pile of darkened blankets.

His cheeks were sunken, and he was emaciated to the point that he looked like skin and bones, as if he had suffered a severe illness.

It was clear that this body didn’t have much time left.

“Creak…”

He twisted his neck and slowly got to his feet.

“My psychic power can no longer control an avatar, because the main body, once awakened, started to mutate… If I hadn’t put the main body in a state like hibernation, it would have been useless long ago…”

A burst of hatred suddenly erupted in Hu Chuan’s deeply sunken eyes! A trace of red light flashed through them.

“He killed me for a zombie? He’s the real monster, they all deserve to die…”

Hu Chuan picked up a handgun from beside him, checked it, then released the safety and loaded the chamber before silently heading out.

As he stepped through the door, a memory suddenly flashed in his mind.

His friends, his comrades, when they discovered his superpower, believed he wasn’t normal…

“Hu Chuan, stop using avatars! You’re nearly completely corrupted. I know you’ve been secretly cutting yourself and drinking your own blood… I also know you’ve been licking the flesh and blood of your fallen comrades! Your main body is almost a monster now!”

“If you don’t give this up, I’ll have to stop you by force! Otherwise, I’ll have to tell the others…”

“You don’t understand, none of you do. Without me, would you even be alive now?”

Hu Chuan shuddered violently: “I haven’t used my main body in so long, I didn’t think these memories would flood back the moment I returned to it. While I’m still alive…”

He looked down the hallway. This was the first floor… No one would have guessed that such an important main body was locked away in the first floor’s emergency staircase.

In that tiny space, less than two square meters, was where he had hidden his main body…

At this moment, Meng Jiayu and the others had already reunited with Ling Mo. Ling Mo gave a brief explanation that Hu Chuan had suddenly tried to attack them. Although the explanation was a bit tenuous, it was better than exposing the identity of Ye Lian and the three girls.

The state of the corpse couldn’t be covered up, so Ling Mo simply revealed Hu Chuan’s superpower. As for why Hu Chuan had called him for a private conversation, Ling Mo brushed it off casually.

“The key now is to find his main body. I suspect there’s something wrong with it,” Ling Mo said.

“Should we split up and search?” Old Wang asked, raising his rifle.

“Yeah!”

Although the opponent was a superhuman, he wasn’t a zombie. Besides, his greatest reliance seemed to have already been taken care of, so he probably wasn’t very capable anymore.

Thinking of this, Zhang Haoyu nodded as well, resolutely agreeing.

He was also furious; Ye Lian was Ling Mo’s girlfriend and exceptionally beautiful…

This guy wanted to kill Ye Lian?

Ling Mo thought that since they were all survivors of numerous battles, even if Hu Chuan had a gun, they should be fine as long as they were careful.

“When you find him, try to avoid direct confrontation. Your safety is the priority,” Ling Mo advised.

He kept Meng Jiayu by his side, not trusting her to search alone.

Old Wang and Zhang Haoyu teamed up, while 2 had already leisurely strolled upstairs with his hands in his pockets.

However, they didn’t take the emergency staircase…

After searching this floor thoroughly, Ling Mo led Ye Lian and the three girls towards the direction of the emergency staircase.

At the same time, Guo Chao was also heading upstairs.

He had a cunning thought: if there were other survivors, even if Ling Mo didn’t die, he would likely be surrounded.

Going up directly might put him in someone else’s line of fire.

It would be better to take a detour, assess the situation first, and then make a plan.

“Jia Yu and the others, they’re rushing in too recklessly. They might end up being dragged down by Ling Mo,” Guo Chao thought with a sigh.

Just as he reached the front of the emergency staircase, a dark figure suddenly leaped out from the side.

Guo Chao’s reaction was quick—he immediately raised his gun—but it was too late.

As he was slammed against the wall, a sharp pain shot through his neck.

Hu Chuan, his eyes already slightly red, was greedily gnawing on his flesh, drinking his blood…

Guo Chao’s eyes rolled back, his legs kicking, his body convulsing uncontrollably.

“Creak, creak…”

But with his windpipe torn, Guo Chao couldn’t make any sounds, and soon, he was silent.

Meanwhile, his handgun fell to the ground with a “clang.”

Hu Chuan immediately raised his head cautiously, his face covered in fresh blood, bits of flesh still hanging from his mouth…

When Hu Chuan grabbed the gun and hid to the side, Ling Mo had already rushed downstairs.

As Ling Mo reached the staircase, he heard the sound of the handgun hitting the ground. Almost simultaneously, he realized something was happening below.

The first thing he saw when he charged down was Guo Chao slowly collapsing. Seeing Guo Chao’s mangled neck, Ling Mo knew he was beyond saving.

It was obvious why Guo Chao had gone to the emergency staircase, but Ling Mo had no time to dwell on that. He immediately pressed himself against the wall just as a gunshot rang out.

At the same time, two figures darted past him.

The moment Ling Mo noticed the body, he halted and swiftly dodged to the side, though pain still surged through his shoulder.

Simultaneously, Xia Na and Ye Lian darted forward. With a swift motion of her scythe, Xia Na disarmed Hu Chuan, who was hiding in the corner. The gun was knocked out of his hand, and one of his hands was severed.

A scream erupted from Hu Chuan. Despite being in the process of mutating, he was still partly human!

On the other hand, he also possessed the agility of a zombie.

The sharp pain kept him alert. As Ye Lian’s tiger claw descended upon him, he rolled on the spot, narrowly avoiding her attack. Grabbing Guo Chao’s fallen handgun, he aimed again at Ling Mo.

He could sense that Ling Mo was still alive—the human scent and the blood were unmistakable!

“First, I’ll kill you!”

But then, another figure leaped down from the stairs, landing squarely on his wrist.

The immense force caused his wrist to snap with a loud “crack,” breaking it in an instant!

Hu Chuan tumbled forward, landing face-down on the ground.

Before he could lift his head, a chilling gust sliced across the back of his neck. He felt as if his head momentarily detached, and in the next second, he saw his own headless body…

Under the relentless assault of the three girl zombies, Hu Chuan’s life ended in utter despair, terror, and excruciating pain.

Even in his final moments, his mouth was stained with partially digested human flesh.

Right before his death, a scene flashed before Hu Chuan’s eyes.

He recalled the comrade he had bitten with his avatar, intentionally causing him to mutate, and the countless other survivors who had died because of his actions…

“If only I hadn’t bitten him back then, maybe I wouldn’t have developed a craving for flesh, and I wouldn’t have lost control over my avatar, biting even myself…”

In the end, he had turned himself into a monster…