Chapter 234 – Don’t Mistake My Silence for Weakness

The zoo and amusement park in X City are situated across a lake from each other, covering an area of 17.3 hectares. With nearly 40 animal enclosures, the zoo exhibits over 300 species totaling nearly 4,000 animals, making it the largest zoo in the region.

“This tourist map provides a clear overview but lacks detailed internal structure,” Ling Mo said, frowning as he folded the map and carefully placed it into his pocket.

Although the map wasn’t detailed, Ling Mo had a general understanding of X City Zoo’s layout.

There were many large animals inside, and on top of that, many visitors and staff had mutated…

Could the iron doors and bars of the zoo enclosures hold back zombies and mutation beasts?

Ling Mo thought not. Otherwise, the mutation snake wouldn’t have crossed the entire district to reach Baihua District.

Moreover, even if the animals couldn’t get out, countless zombies would relentlessly try to break into the cages for meat.

Ling Mo didn’t believe there would be any survivors left in a place like this. It wasn’t an amusement park; even with places to hide, there wouldn’t be enough food supplies.

Furthermore, ordinary humans without powerful weapons were just fodder for the mutation beasts.

“We need to be very careful too,” Ling Mo said, a hint of seriousness in his eyes.

In terms of individual strength, mutation beasts were formidable, and different species had different attack methods, which was the most troublesome part.

Leader-level zombies, in Ling Mo’s view, were just beginning their evolution and weren’t yet strong enough to ignore all threats.

Many things could still pose a threat to leader-level zombies or advanced zombies like Ye Lian.

The more they accumulated resources to survive, the more cautious they had to be to avoid losing everything in one careless moment. This was Ling Mo’s guiding principle.

“It does look quite dire inside,” Xia Na remarked, having been sneaking peeks at the notes on the map.

Ling Mo looked at her with some surprise. “You can read now?”

“I’ve been able to for a while,” Xia Na replied with a matter-of-fact expression. “Back in the day, I was a top student, as you humans would say.”

“Come on, Li Yalin is the real top student. Why can’t she read?” Ling Mo grumbled.

Xia Na brushed her long hair and said, “It’s normal. I remember all my memories, but they seem divided into two parts. Unlike humans, who don’t recall all their memories at once, instead, you keep what’s useful and either forget or let the rest settle, right?”

“Damn, I didn’t expect you to explain it like a top student… It’s impressive,” Ling Mo said, helplessly patting his head.

Ye Lian nodded and said, “Hmm… Anyway… It’s very confusing… Seems… messy…”

“Sort it out first before you speak,” Li Yalin said, pinching Ye Lian’s ear and then leaning on her shoulder, looking at Ling Mo and Xia Na. “But Nana is right. The memories we recall are chaotic and mixed. Even things we forgot when we were human can come back. For example, memories of you were prioritized, but back when I was human, I considered them useless…”

“That was unnecessary…”

“As you humans say, those should be deep memories in the subconscious, right?” Xia Na frowned.

Ling Mo was stunned for a moment before exclaiming, “That’s amazing… So your knowledge capacity…”

“It’s not that simple. Let me put it this way: it’s like ten years ago, I unintentionally passed by a street, glanced at a billboard, and casually read the slogan… Such memories would have been forgotten long ago, but now I can recall them completely. But what’s the use of such trivial memories?” Xia Na spread her hands and said, “So, I don’t know what I’ll remember next. But that’s my situation. Senior Sister and Ye Lian haven’t restored their complete memories.”

“I’m selecting useful ones to integrate,” Li Yalin smiled.

“What counts as useful?” Ling Mo asked curiously.

Li Yalin’s eyes immediately showed a hint of blood-red, and the amber ring in her eyes became even brighter. “Currently, I am integrating physiological knowledge. For areas I haven’t recalled yet, I asked those humans yesterday…”

Ling Mo was about to say something when Li Yalin suddenly sniffed the air deeply and said, “Over there… it seems like there’s something delicious!”

“Only what’s still edible after we’re done counts as delicious,” Ling Mo rolled his eyes, reminding her.

The closer they got to the zoo, the more agitated Black Silk became.

Along the way, it bit through every zombie it encountered, leaving a trail of corpses and splattered blood.

When they were less than a kilometer from the zoo, Black Silk stopped, lowering its huge body slightly, appearing very nervous.

“Is it scared?”

Xia Na flipped the scythe deftly in her hand. Sensing the threat, she seemed to switch into her “Black Na” persona. This was the name she had given her darker personality, though Ling Mo nearly burst out laughing the first time he heard it.

“No, I think it’s about to lure out the first mutation beast.”

Ling Mo pulled out his Tang Sword, frowning as he spoke.

He had discarded the submachine gun earlier; a gun without bullets was useless.

The trail of corpses and the thick scent of blood carried by the wind had been blown into the zoo.

For mutation beasts with keen senses of smell, this was like throwing a defenseless prey in front of a starving lion.

Soon, Black Silk turned its head towards the bushes on the left. In the instant it turned, a black shadow leapt out from the bushes, pouncing towards Black Silk with incredible agility.

“It’s a mutation panther!”

Ling Mo’s psychic power had been on high alert. Despite the panther’s astonishing speed, he managed to catch sight of it.

Black Silk was knocked heavily to the ground, but before it could get up, the black shadow darted towards Ling Mo.

“Damn!”

This mutation panther appeared to have some level of intelligence, choosing not to engage directly with Black Silk and instead targeting the seemingly weaker Ling Mo.

However, it didn’t realize that Ling Mo was actually the hardest one to hit in this group.

As Ling Mo would say, being a pitiful human with subpar abilities in every aspect, he has devoted significant effort into survival skills.

The speed at which the mutation panther charged was akin to being hit by a car traveling over a hundred kilometers per hour.

Instant acceleration and even greater explosive power!

Ling Mo had less than a second to react.

“Bang!”

Ling Mo didn’t move an inch, while the mutation panther seemed to crash into an invisible wall, flipping backwards and landing on the ground.

This wasn’t some ability to materialize psychic power; it was an interference effect.

Only Ling Mo could see the dense web of psychic tentacles in front of him.

This enhanced interference effect caused the mutation panther to hallucinate a wall in front of it, resulting in it being thrown back.

The stronger the interference, the more realistic and powerful the illusion.

If Ling Mo’s psychic power were sufficient, he could even make his opponent believe they had crashed into an iron wall bristling with sharp knives, effectively “killing” them through the collision.

This could be seen as a form of hypnosis, and it proved effective.

Human experiments have shown similar results, and some accidental incidents confirm that creating deadly illusions through hypnosis is indeed possible.

Ling Mo wanted to immediately use his puppet control ability to see if he could control this mutation panther, but he felt a strong resistance.

“Third stage, equivalent to an advanced zombie.”

“Roar!”

Black Silk angrily lunged again, but the third-stage mutation panther was exceptionally agile.

Li Yalin flipped her wrist and charged forward.

She excelled in speed and agility, and she immediately inflicted a wound on the third-stage mutation panther.

Ye Lian and Xia Na also surrounded it. They weren’t as fast, but each had their strengths.

When the panther appeared near Ye Lian, she would quickly injure it. When it tried to retaliate, Ye Lian would leap high and land behind it.

As for Xia Na, her red and white eyes could induce hallucinations, causing the panther to run straight into Black Silk and Li Yalin’s attacks.

With Ye Lian and Xia Na blocking its path and Ling Mo continuously interfering from the side, the third-stage mutation panther quickly found itself at a disadvantage.

As the wounds on its body increased, the mutation panther let out a pained roar and suddenly darted past Li Yalin, lunging at Ling Mo once again.

“You really think I’m an easy target, huh?”

Ling Mo’s eyes narrowed, and his psychic tentacles formed a giant barrier in front of him.

“Bang!”

This time, instead of just blocking, Ling Mo made the mutation panther’s footing slip, causing it to flounder as if drowning.

This was the same interference technique as before, only more potent!

Ling Mo’s psychic power was immediately halved!

“Slash!”

The Tang Sword came down, and the third-stage mutation panther collapsed to the ground, blood flowing from beneath it.

“Phew!”

Ling Mo straightened up, exhaling deeply.

Although it seemed like a swift kill, without the weakening efforts of Ye Lian and the three girls, along with Black Silk, Ling Mo would have exhausted all his psychic power to achieve the same result.

The ability for everyone to conserve their strength while still taking down the opponent unscathed鈥”that’s the true meaning of teamwork.

Ye Lian leapt forward, flipping her tiger claw, and a pristine piece of mutation beast gel fell into her hand.

Black Silk excitedly bounded forward, but before it could reach Ling Mo, Li Yalin grabbed its tail and flung it backward.

“Poor performance in the vanguard and you still want a share of the spoils?” Xia Na snorted.

Black Silk let out a plaintive whine as it landed heavily, but Li Yalin had gauged her strength well, ensuring it wasn’t hurt.

“Let’s all just get along, okay?” Ling Mo said helplessly.

It seemed Black Silk hadn’t spent enough time with him yet… Back in the day, Li Yalin was also ostracized by Xia Na and Ye Lian. Now, the three girls were so close they could roll around on the same bed together.

Of course, in such situations, Ling Mo was usually the one being clung to while they rolled around…

“Though it sounds enviable, why does it make me feel sore all over just thinking about it?”