Chapter 368 – Dominant Level Zombie

As Ling Mo rose to his feet, he quietly pocketed the Virus Nest, suppressing the excitement in his heart. The unique fragrance emitted by the Virus Nest was detectable only to him and the zombies. Although his pocket wasn’t completely smell-proof, Yuwen Xuan would be none the wiser.

“It needs a name…”

Considering the strength the old lady zombie demonstrated and its association with the Virus Nest, Ling Mo was convinced she had transcended the leader level, reaching the next tier.

“The previous one was leader level… This tier shall be named dominant level! However, at this level, the significance of classification diminishes. This old lady zombie had displayed a highly personalized attack strategy. If I encounter another dominant level zombie, the same stealth approach may not work…” Ling Mo habitually summed up the battle in his mind.

Upon hearing this, Yuwen Xuan leaned forward in frustration, his forehead hitting the wall, “The chance to name it slipped right before my eyes… And, dominant level? Could you come up with a lamer name? I wanted to say this when I first saw the zombie classification document you provided—your naming ability is truly terrible…”

“Your objection is irrelevant,” Ling Mo shot him a glance. “Besides, I landed the final blow. What right do you have to name it?”

“I was the first to discover it. Generally, the right to name goes to the discoverer, not the slayer,” Yuwen Xuan argued.

“The law is already obsolete, let alone such conventions…” Ling Mo scoffed.

Yuwen Xuan struggled to punch the ground, “So you’re discarding both law and morality for the sake of naming rights! How low can you go? People usually abandon such things for power and women, yet you do it over mere naming rights…”

“Shut it…”

In this building, it seemed only he and Yuwen Xuan remained as humans, along with a leader level zombie lurking somewhere unknown…

Taking advantage of the fact that Ban Yue hadn’t appeared yet, Ling Mo’s priority was to secure the experimental subjects and then leave the place. He gulped down two more doses of the Spider Queen potion, awaiting the restoration of his Mental power.

It wasn’t even half-past ten yet. By morning, this place would turn into chaos, likely causing Falcon Camp to be locked down. Therefore, Ling Mo and his group had to leave City A before then.

“I’ll hide you first, then once you can move, we’ll take the experimental subjects…”

Ling Mo’s words suddenly trailed off, and a hush fell over the corridor.

After a tense few seconds, Yuwen Xuan couldn’t help but break the silence, “…Are you forcing me to ask? Fine, I get it; you’re asserting your command… Sir, what are our next steps…” He raised his head with difficulty as if he were a mummy, “Come on, speak up… Ah!”

His words turned into a scream midway, his face filled with horror as he stared at the space beside him.

Both Ling Mo and the corpse of the old lady zombie had vanished without a trace…

The hallway was deserted, splattered with blood and marked with scorching, devoid of any human presence or sound.

What on earth had happened in the less than five seconds that passed? Could it be that the old lady zombie hadn’t died completely and had sprung up to drag away Ling Mo?

But recalling how Ling Mo had just pierced her neck with his knife, plunging straight into her brain, she was unquestionably dead beyond any doubt.

“Hey!”

Yuwen Xuan shouted, but the only response was the echo of his own voice.

With a darkened face, he thought hard, and then a lightbulb went off. He quickly reached into his pocket.

Two seconds later, with a complex expression, he pulled out a charred device: “The Communicator is destroyed too. This is bad. If I’ve lost my brother-in-law, Ya Lin is going to tear me to shreds.”

Remembering how Li Ya Lin didn’t hold back at all when she kicked him, and how protective she was of Ling Mo, Yuwen Xuan grew increasingly worried about his own predicament. He struggled to his feet, supporting himself against the wall as he moved forward.

“…Ling Mo, you better be fine. If something happens to you, I’m done for…”

As Yuwen Xuan searched anxiously for Ling Mo, not far away, inside a sealed room, Ling Mo was holding his breath, intently watching a figure pressing down on him.

The light weight and glowing red pupils in the dim light immediately made Ling Mo think of the leader level zombie, Ban Yue.

However, the astonishingly large mounds on the chest made him second-guess his initial thought.

Ban Yue was known to be flat-chested… Ignoring the delicate face and judging solely by the body, one could easily mistake her for a young boy.

The air was also tinged with the smell of something burnt. Without a doubt, the body of the old lady zombie had been dragged in by this mysterious female zombie.

Ling Mo wanted to make a noise to alert Yuwen Xuan outside, but considering his complete lack of fighting ability, even if Yuwen Xuan came, he wouldn’t be much help, probably just another victim.

Moreover, the hand gripping his neck was not going to allow him to shout freely.

He thought to himself that he had been careless. During the battle, he had been constantly on guard for Ban Yue’s appearance, so naturally, he let his guard down afterward.

The main reason was that his mental power had not yet recovered, preventing him from using his mental detection.

“Let’s make a deal,” Ling Mo said quietly, pushing the tactical knife against the assailant’s neck forward a bit. The sharp tip of the knife pressed against the tough skin, and while it hadn’t pierced through, a faint sensation of pain was inevitable. High-level zombies had regained a perception of pain; they weren’t afraid of it, but they could still feel it.

And with this move, Ling Mo completed his assessment of the attacker’s strength.

When he had stabbed the old lady zombie in the neck, he had used all his strength, but he could still feel as if he was cutting through something extremely hard and quite elastic, lacking a point of leverage.

The one in front of him… Judging by the toughness of her skin, she wasn’t nearly as resilient as the old lady zombie. It was safe to assume that her strength fell somewhere between Li Ya Lin and the old lady zombie. Overall, she had not yet escaped the category of a leader level zombie.

Despite being caught by surprise, Ling Mo was not about to surrender without a fight.

Both he and the zombie had each other’s vitals in a deadlock, leading to a standoff.

In fact, this situation was advantageous for Ling Mo. His mental power, stimulated by the life-and-death crisis, was recovering at an accelerated pace.

He estimated that in two more minutes, he would be able to unleash a Mental Strangulation.

However, a full recovery of his strength would likely take several more hours.

In the darkness, a pair of red eyes stared unblinkingly at Ling Mo, and it took a while before a chilling voice finally spoke: “You’re not going to be faster than me.”

A cold smirk appeared on Ling Mo’s face. If he had been completely unprepared, he wouldn’t have been Ling Mo.

With the last bit of his mental power combined with the tactical knife in his hand, he was confident he could keep himself alive.

If push came to shove… he could always resort to psychological tricks, especially since no one else was around.

However, Ling Mo wanted to buy some more time. The more his mental power recovered, the higher his chances of victory. As time passed, the scales of victory would tip little by little in his favor.

“How will you know if you don’t try?” Ling Mo said with a smile.

The female zombie seemed surprised by Ling Mo’s composure. She watched him for a moment before slowly reaching out with her other hand, trailing it down Ling Mo’s abdomen: “What about this? Who will be faster now…?”

Her words had barely fallen when the lights in the room suddenly turned on. At the same time, Ling Mo thrust his tactical knife forward and shouted, “Pika!” as he executed a Mental Strangulation.

The change in lighting had little effect on zombies, but this leader level zombie was successfully repelled by Ling Mo, even receiving a cut on her neck.

“Phew!”

Ling Mo leaned against the door, gripping the handle tightly, and kept his eyes on the female zombie standing not too far away: “Am I mistaken, or are you actually Ban Yue’s twin sister?”

The female zombie was leaning casually against a desk, supporting her head with one hand, eyeing Ling Mo, who had successfully ambushed her.

She bore a striking resemblance to Ban Yue, but with a unique twist that was quite captivating. Ling Mo had not expected that the same delicate features could, with a significant change in demeanor and aura, transform into such a blood-stirring young woman!