Chapter 245 – The Key Lies in One’s Perspective

Watching Sun Zeya drag Ling Mo and the others away, the woman remained standing there, trembling all over.

“Hey, Yang Ying, come here…”

Seeing Tom also move aside, the bald man with a thug-like appearance suddenly sat up straight and called out softly.

Yang Ying was momentarily stunned, and the bald man frowned, yelling in frustration, “Are you deaf?!”

“Ah…” Yang Ying’s body shook, and she hurriedly ran to the bald man’s side, sitting on a pile of old clothes. “Liu Qiang, what do we do now? We’ve offended that woman. How am I supposed to live a good life now? Didn’t you say she was easier to deal with?”

“Why are you babbling?” Liu Qiang glared at her in annoyance and said, “How was I supposed to know she’d be so aggressive?”

Yang Ying seemed quite afraid of Liu Qiang and lowered her voice nervously, asking, “But what should we do now? Are we really going to keep adventuring with them? I heard them say yesterday that they plan to go to places with even more zombies… If I’d known they had this in mind from the start, we wouldn’t have joined them…”

“Not join?” Liu Qiang snorted, “That’s why you have the mentality of a woman.”

Liu Qiang glanced around and lowered his voice, saying, “Do you think I want to keep hiding and running forever? Even if you don’t mind, I do. Where there’s a camp and people, there’s a chance to rise up.”

“Anyway, here’s what I know: when there are more people, a privileged class will emerge. Before, I couldn’t find a way out, and no one took me seriously. But heaven has eyes—I became a superhuman… But even if I have more brains and abilities than those people, rushing in recklessly would still get me killed. The most important thing now is to find a way to their camp. Once we’re in a safe place without any worries, I can reveal my abilities… No need for risks, and I can still gain status.”

At this point, Liu Qiang showed a hint of a smug smile, but on his face, it looked nothing but sinister.

Yang Ying frowned and said, “I know that… but…”

“We’re definitely not going to take risks with them. Who knows how long they’ll keep searching here? At least they need to send a few people to escort us back. The sooner we get there, the sooner I can rise up.”

“Didn’t that woman say she wouldn’t stop the mission just for you?” Liu Qiang whispered. “I overheard some of those soldiers saying that the guy just now, Ling Mo, seems to have special abilities too. Find a chance to talk to him and try to win him over. If it works out, we can hide behind him on the way, and we won’t have to take any risks. If he dies halfway, I’ll be more valued when we get to the camp. It’s called ‘playing dumb to catch the wise,’ got it?”

“Alright…” Yang Ying nodded.

They spoke in such low voices that no one around heard their conversation.

Yang Ying glanced in the direction where Ling Mo had left, looking a bit uneasy.

At this moment, Sun Zeya had already led Ling Mo to a small warehouse. Inside, there were a few backpacks and a sleeping bag, making it look like it was Sun Zeya’s room.

“Have a seat. Smoke? Drink?”

As she spoke, she pulled a pack of cigarettes from her backpack and found a can of beer, tossing them to Ling Mo.

Ling Mo never went out of his way to gather such things, nor would he let them take up space in his bag. But if someone offered, he wouldn’t refuse.

These were good things… He remembered the days when a pack of cigarettes could get him through an all-nighter…

“Haven’t smoked in a long time. Feels weird holding one.”

Ling Mo laughed at himself. “But you guys still manage to collect these things…”

“The camp has a distribution system for supplies, but items like these are scarce. People often trade extra food or daily necessities for them. But the real hard currency is bullets, though not many are willing to trade those. One more bullet means one more zombie killed.”

Sun Zeya laughed nonchalantly.

“Distribution system… based on combat achievements?” Ling Mo asked curiously.

“Yes. Even regular survivors need to participate in the cleanup and reconstruction work, so their basic quota is the same as ours. But we have additional income—killing zombies for bullets, trading for supplies, and getting rewards for completing missions. With the extra supplies and bullets, we can trade with others for what we need,” Sun Zeya said, raising her eyebrows with a hint of pride.

The warehouse was too narrow, so Ye Lian and the three girls squeezed in beside Ling Mo.

Sun Zeya sat on the sleeping bag, cleaning her gun, and asked Ling Mo, “I’ve basically told you about our camp’s situation. To be honest, we’re very short on manpower, lacking in every area. But what we need most is combat power. Bullets are scarce, and we can’t train many new soldiers… Superhumans like you, who are strong without weapons, are very welcome at our camp.”

Here comes the main topic…

Ling Mo had been mentally prepared and shook his head, saying, “But I’m a pretty free-spirited person…”

“Actually, I noticed that you’re not very interested in our camp,” Sun Zeya suddenly looked up, a sly glint flashing in her bright eyes. “Usually, when I finish introducing the camp, most people would ask to join without me even mentioning it. But I think it’s because you don’t know us well enough yet, so you have doubts about our strength. Hmm, cautious attitude, I appreciate that.”

Ling Mo was a bit taken aback; he hadn’t expected this woman to be so observant.

However, she was wrong about one thing. Ling Mo’s reasoning wasn’t that complicated—his refusal to join was straightforward.

For Ye Lian and the others…

If Ling Mo were alone, he would definitely consider joining. As Sun Zeya described, the camp she depicted was very appealing to survivors!

Moreover, Ling Mo was confident that with his superhuman abilities, he could achieve a certain status in the camp and live a relatively comfortable life.

But for Ling Mo, the most important thing wasn’t his own well-being; that wasn’t even a priority for him!

So joining the camp was out of the question for Ling Mo.

At least until Ye Lian and the others fully recover their memories and until a way to reconcile the inherent conflict between zombie nature and coexistence with humans is found, Ling Mo couldn’t stay in close contact with human survivors for long.

Ye Lian and the three girls’ disguise was only temporary; it was impossible for them to remain undiscovered forever.

Once their true identities were revealed, even if they didn’t actively harm anyone, Ling Mo could imagine how the survivors would react.

For some reason, thinking about this made Ling Mo feel a bit stifled.

He couldn’t help but glance back at Ye Lian and then quietly took her cold, soft hand in his.

At that moment, a thought struck him.

Maybe the problem wasn’t with Ye Lian and the others, but with how he viewed them.

Did he see them as zombies or as “humans”…

Xia Na’s personality split was due to this very reason, wasn’t it?

If that was the case, maybe the key to Xia Na’s complete integration and enhancement wasn’t in her, but in him…

“What do you think, will you consider it?” Seeing Ling Mo deep in thought, Sun Zeya felt a surge of joy.

It seemed like there was hope after all. Her persuasion skills were indeed strong. Those who said she wasn’t good at socializing were just envious.

“Sorry…”

“Huh? Don’t refuse just yet! I’m still giving myself a pep talk!”

As soon as Ling Mo opened his mouth, Sun Zeya patted him on the shoulder: “Even though I’m a bit frustrated, there’s no rush. Think it over tonight. Don’t worry, I won’t force you.”

“Could you let go? My shoulder’s about to break…”

Ling Mo suddenly remembered something and quickly opened his backpack to take it out: Armed Police Officer Luo Heng’s notebook.

“This was given to me by an armed police officer. It’s his record book, I guess. Since you’re here in X City to gather information, this should be useful to you.”

With this, Ling Mo had fulfilled Luo Heng’s request. Of course, he had also remembered all the valuable information in the notebook.

“Good stuff…” Sun Zeya was momentarily stunned, then hurriedly took the notebook and flipped through it. “This is very useful. Thanks a lot.”

She didn’t hesitate to accept it.

“Don’t thank me yet; I have a favor to ask,” Ling Mo said.

“Huh?” Sun Zeya looked at Ling Mo in surprise. “Go ahead.”

“I don’t know how extensive your search area is this time… In any case, when you start building the quarantine zone, make sure to visit X City University. There are still many survivors there. Also, there are survivors nearby; if they haven’t left yet… take them with you.”

Ling Mo thought for a moment and said.

He felt a chill run through him. Since when did he start thinking so much about others…

However, thinking about Lin Luanqiu still trapped at X City University, desperately waiting for the rescue team, made Ling Mo feel a bit guilty.

It was just a casual remark, and it was in exchange for Luo Heng’s notebook, so helping out wasn’t a big deal.

“Is that so… Alright, I’ll remember that.” Sun Zeya pondered for a while, then nodded seriously.

Ling Mo felt relieved immediately.

She didn’t agree lightly, which was a good sign…

“Not only did I fail to save you all, but I also ended up taking something from you…” Sun Zeya murmured, frowning as she put the notebook into her backpack. “That’s not right.”

“Uh… don’t worry about it; let’s consider it an equal exchange…”

“How can that be? How about this, you all can stay here tonight, and also…”

She furtively pulled out a large package and handed it to Ling Mo: “I believe you need this. Clean ones are hard to find. That’s it; I’m off to help make Molotov cocktails. Someone will bring food later. Don’t be shy.”

After Sun Zeya left the small warehouse with her backpack, Ling Mo curiously opened the black plastic bag in his hand.

A soft package came into his hand, and Ye Lian and the three girls immediately gathered around, curious.

“Ling-Ge, what is this?”

“San… sanitary pads.”