Chapter 212 – Courtship

On the desolate street, scattered bones could be seen everywhere.

If Ling Mo hadn’t felt it before on the Ancient Street, walking along this main road made him deeply realize the terrifying evolution of the zombie horde.

From the color of the bloodstains on the ground, it was clear that most of them were left within the past two or three months.

Although one corpse could feed a dozen or even twenty zombies, it also indicated how brutal the survival of the fittest was within the zombie population.

Ling Mo speculated that over the past six months, the number of zombies that had died in X City might be close to a million.

But there were still millions of zombies remaining. After all, this was a city with a population of over ten million.

The surviving zombies, by consuming their kind, must have improved their physical abilities. Even though the difference might not be significant on an individual level, the slight enhancement across the entire horde was a terrifying prospect.

Fortunately, these ordinary zombies were still pure beasts, driven only by the instinct to kill, incapable of thinking.

And the human advantage lay in the ability to think…

Of course, with Ling Mo’s current strength, he no longer needed to use things like cell phones or firecrackers to lure away the zombies.

He had much simpler methods.

There were too many zombies on this street. Although Ye Lian and the three girls were formidable, their upcoming target was a Leader-Level Zombie, so it was best to conserve their strength as much as possible.

In the distance, Ling Mo could already see the Clothing City. Its decoration looked very luxurious. Judging by the advertising signs on the outer walls, it was evident that it housed many luxury brands.

Who would have thought that these two Leader-Level Zombies had such good taste…

At this moment, Ling Mo was hiding in a corner, his invisible Psychic Tentacle quietly extending out to control about twenty nearby zombies.

These were all ordinary zombies, and they did not resist at all when controlled.

Seeing the obedient zombies walking towards them, Yu Shiran’s eyes widened in surprise.

She was being held by Li Yalin and Ye Lian on either side. Given her current weakened state, escaping from an Advanced Zombie nearly at Leader-Level and an actual Leader-Level Zombie would be extremely difficult.

Moreover, Xia Na would occasionally swing her Scythe at her to prevent her from recovering too quickly.

Even though Leader-Level Zombies had formidable self-healing abilities, it was impossible to recover quickly while sustaining continuous injuries.

Ling Mo noticed that the more injuries she sustained, the slower her recovery seemed. It appeared that the Viral Hive couldn’t provide her with an endless supply of virus. At least, judging by her current state, she urgently needed to consume Virus Gel to replenish her energy.

If she were just an ordinary Loli, Ling Mo certainly wouldn’t treat her this way…

But this one was dangerous; she had nearly bitten his Dick earlier…

“By the way, I’m really curious about something.” While controlling the zombies to walk slowly towards them, Ling Mo turned to Yu Shiran and asked, “What are you doing here?”

Yu Shiran shot Ling Mo a cold glance and replied, “Ban Yue said she wanted to come back and wait for a human, the one who injured her.”

“Oh…” Ling Mo’s heart stirred, “So the injury she wants to heal was caused by that human?”

“Yes.” Yu Shiran nodded.

Unexpectedly, Ban Yue’s injury still hadn’t healed. It seemed that the mutated Venom was indeed very potent.

Li Yalin had initially been exposed to a small dose. After integrating it, her physique had undergone significant changes.

Ban Yue, however, had been exposed to a large amount all at once. The first reaction of the virus in her body was likely to reject it.

This resulted in a tug-of-war within her body: one side tried to invade through the wound, while the other desperately resisted the Venom’s erosion.

The result was naturally mutual destruction.

Still, it was quite clever of Yu Shiran to think of using medication for treatment. But could ordinary anti-inflammatory drugs and sprays really handle this poison?

Oh well, you can’t expect too much from a Loli…

Ling Mo furrowed his brow and asked, “Then why are you all together?”

Yu Shiran’s expression finally changed slightly. She glanced at Li Yalin, then at Xia Na, and snorted before saying, “Once a Leader-Level Zombie fully evolves, it will call out for a mate. Those who receive the call have no choice but to respond. However, once a Leader-Level Zombie has a mate, it won’t receive any more calls unless the mate dies. She should at least know this, right? Who knows, she might leave you, a human, very soon…”

As she said the last sentence, she looked directly at Li Yalin, a slight smile appearing on her face, as if she was eager to see Ling Mo’s reaction.

This made Ling Mo’s heart skip a beat. He quickly turned his gaze to Li Yalin: “Senior Sister?”

Li Yalin brushed her hair back and said, “Actually, Advanced Zombies can also call out, but they can only call those of the same level… It’s a form of courtship behavior among zombies.”

Ling Mo’s eyes widened in shock. The zombies he was controlling also paused, stopping less than twenty meters away, standing still like puppets.

Courtship?!

Ling Mo immediately recalled the calls he had heard near X City University. Back then, even Ye Lian had been slightly affected. Now it seemed that those were indeed courtship calls.

However, it was evident that the courtship behavior of Advanced Zombies was completely different from that of Leader-Level Zombies. Leader-Level Zombies seemed to have a cheat code, with a 100% success rate…

This wasn’t courtship at all; it was more like a forced marriage!

From what Yu Shiran said, it seemed likely that the one Ban Yue had called… Could it be that reaching Leader-Level inevitably awakened this desire?

Thankfully, the one she called was Ban Yue. Otherwise, it would have been a real loss!

Even though she was a zombie, she looked like she was only thirteen or fourteen years old. What kind of courtship was that?!

On the other hand, it made sense that Ban Yue would respond to a female zombie’s call. Deep down, she still saw herself as a male…

Ling Mo’s gaze shifted to Ye Lian and Xia Na.

So, Ye Lian could now call an Advanced Zombie of the same level, and Li Yalin could call a Leader-Level Zombie?

And once Xia Na fully evolved, she could also call…

If it wasn’t about courtship, Ling Mo’s first instinct would be to use this ability to call other Senior Zombies, set traps, and hunt them.

But when this behavior was seen as courtship by the girls, Ling Mo couldn’t stay calm.

Even if using this ability could bring an abundance of Virus Gel or mother hives, Ling Mo would never let his women engage in courtship!

What Ling Mo worried about the most was whether they would follow their instincts and send out such courtship signals.

Ye Lian was the first to shake her head and said, “I’ve never had such thoughts… I… I don’t know why.”

Xia Na smiled slightly, tilted her head, and said, “Strangely enough… I haven’t either.”

“I… I have,” Li Yalin blinked, her deeply defined face showing a peculiar expression.

“Huh?!” Ling Mo’s eyebrows immediately furrowed.

“Yes… it was towards you, but you didn’t respond…”

A strange light flickered in Li Yalin’s eyes. “But I clearly feel that you are my mate, yet you can’t hear my call. Maybe it’s because we already have some kind of connection. It’s very mysterious, I can’t explain it…”

“How could you become mates with a human…” Yu Shiran muttered from the side.

But Ling Mo’s heart skipped a beat! So that’s it. Their courtship behavior should also be a kind of psychic communication, right?

After all, unlike other animals, zombies don’t rely on males fighting each other or displaying their bodies, nests, and so on for courtship.

As for Ye Lian and the other two girls, they had long established a deep psychic link with him. In every sense, he was their only mate!

Ling Mo immediately felt relieved. As long as they didn’t engage in courtship, it was fine…

But given that there was an instinctual courtship behavior, it indicated that zombies could reproduce.

Cases like Ban Yue and Yu Shiran were exceptions. As for Ling Mo… whether humans and zombies could have children was still an unknown question.

“Has there ever been a case where a zombie was called by two different zombies at the same time?”

Ling Mo asked suddenly. This was purely out of curiosity.

But unexpectedly, Yu Shiran sharply turned her head to look at him, a cold glint flashing in her eyes, and she let out a muffled snort.

“Oh? So zombies can get jealous and fight over mates too…”