Chapter 378 – Through the Eyes of the Zombies

“Squeal!”

With the sound of urgent brakes, a shabby slipper van came to a halt under the overpass leading from City A to City X.

Ling Mo, his face pale, propped himself up on the van’s side and stood up, patting his body that had gone rigid from the cold wind. “Alright, let’s wait here for Ban Yue.”

“Hey, human, you’re pretty weak, aren’t you? Feel like throwing up?” Yu Shiran asked with a hint of schadenfreude.

“How about you not make your grudge about wanting to bite me but only being able to stare so obvious, okay?”

Ling Mo gave her a glance and then gestured, “Don’t just sit there, come and help.”

“Swipe!”

As the body bag was unzipped, the corpse of a young male zombie appeared.

Ling Mo stared at the body for a moment before turning to ask Yu Shiran, “Is this the one… the spouse of that old lady zombie?”

“Huh? You know about her? I’ve never seen her mate, so I wouldn’t know,” Yu Shiran giggled.

“What’s the use of bringing you…” Ling Mo shook his head and pulled out his tactical knife.

To prevent infection, he should have worn gloves and a mask, but by now he had a certain level of immunity, so he skipped that step.

“Guess we’ll know if we look.”

Handing the tactical knife to Yu Shiran, he said, “Use this to extract his Virus Gel… or the Virus Nest.”

Yu Shiran looked at the small knife with a mix of surprise and hesitation, but eventually took it.

What would normally take a second with her fingers took her nearly a minute with the knife. She was not accustomed to using tools…

However, Ling Mo was patient. Yu Shiran was a seasoned wild zombie, and changing her habits would naturally take some time.

For now, she was an excellent nutrient absorber for Black Silk, and it was uncertain when Black Silk would leave her body.

Since they had to coexist for the time being, they had to play by Ling Mo’s rules. He certainly did not want to see any restricted-level scenes playing out before his eyes…

“Here you go.” Yu Shiran handed the extracted Virus Nest to Ling Mo.

“So it’s also leader level… Wait, something’s not right?” Ling Mo had just taken a glance at the Virus Nest when he immediately noticed something amiss.

He hastily pulled out the very first Virus Nest from his pocket, the one he had been using to enhance his physical abilities.

As time passed, or perhaps due to his constant absorption, this Virus Nest had gradually begun to lose its vitality, barely usable for the time being.

It was akin to losing weight rapidly through intense exercise, but as soon as one stops, the weight creeps back on bit by bit.

Ling Mo was facing a similar situation; if he stopped absorbing the virus, he would even start feeling a vague pain throughout his body. This was not a good sign.

Placing the two pieces of Virus Gel side by side for comparison immediately highlighted the differences.

Their appearance was somewhat dull in color, a sign of diminished vitality. However, in terms of size, the brain of the experimental subjects was significantly larger, yet with noticeably fewer blood streaks.

Ling Mo pinched his chin thoughtfully and said, “It seems as if it’s inherently deficient. The virus that could be secreted from this should be quite limited, right?”

Yu Shiran glanced at him curiously, mimicking his gesture by propping up her cheeks and adopting a pensive expression. “Hmm, it doesn’t quite taste pure. I remember that guy saying, her mate is of a lower grade than us.”

“Leader level calling for advancement? No, that can’t be right. She wouldn’t be considering this young and robust one…” Ling Mo shivered involuntarily, quickly shook his head to dismiss the disturbing thought, “Right, the experiments they conducted were about forcibly enhancing the strength of the zombies and successfully advancing them to the next level.”

He looked again at the inferior product of the Virus Nest in his hand, gritting his teeth, “What a premature end! They call this a successful advancement? No wonder Yuwen Xuan said they were unreliable, it’s a complete letdown!”

“Human, look at this.” Yu Shiran suddenly pointed towards the arm of the experimental subject.

Ling Mo leaned in and indeed spotted a purplish bruise that looked like a needle mark.

“There’s a scent of blood not his own,” Xia Na added as she hopped onto the vehicle, reaching behind Ling Mo’s head and pushing away Yu Shiran who was poised with her mouth open, playfully miming a bite on Ling Mo’s neck.

Without looking up, Ling Mo replied, “It’s fine, she can’t really bite. What do you mean by blood not his own?”

“Well,” Xia Na squatted next to the corpse, “it’s like how human blood types differ, each person’s scent of blood is distinct to us. Most humans smell much better than us zombies, but with the gel, we start to smell even more appealing.” Xia Na looked up at Ling Mo somewhat eerily, “Ling Mo understands this, right?”

“Uh…” Ling Mo touched his nose, responding.

He had been quite startled when he first noticed this…

“I’ve gone far down the path of becoming a zombie, yet my mind has never been affected. In other words, while my body might be turning into a zombie, my thoughts remain purely human…” Ling Mo nodded and then asked, “Are you saying that each zombie also has a unique scent?”

“The differences are subtle, with a few exceptions,” Xia Na suddenly inhaled deeply and continued, “Our perception of the world is completely different from humans. To us, it’s more like a hunting ground. Through smell, sight, and hearing, what unfolds in our brains is a world filled with various prey.”

Xia Na closed her eyes as if to savor the vision, then opened them contentedly, “Silly Xia Na used to be quite averse to this way of seeing the world. But after reaching an understanding, we learned to view it in both ways. When I don’t need prey, I can let them go. If the prey threatens me, I protect myself and eliminate them.”

“So that’s how it is…”

Ling Mo nodded thoughtfully; he couldn’t really pass judgment. But the thought of Ye Lian made him unexpectedly uncomfortable.

He still wanted to see Ye Lian as she was before, to let her experience once more what Xia Na could…

“Cough cough, moving on, since he has other blood scents on him…”

Xia Na took the tactical knife and slowly pried open the needle mark, then brought the tip of the knife to her nose and sniffed, “You humans have a way, you can also drink someone else’s blood, it’s called…” She searched through her memory files for a while before continuing, “Transfusion? By the way, this foreign blood scent is nearly as sweet as his own.”

“Does that mean injecting him with the blood of zombies of the same level to stimulate his growth?” Ling Mo frowned. This was actually not much different from the usual method of zombie evolution. In fact, consuming gel would be even better. The lab at Falcon Camp was utterly deranged to call such a thing an experiment… they were completely fooling the higher-ups!

“Ah, there’s another scent, very pungent, might be some kind of drug.” Xia Na prodded a bit more with the knife tip.

The virus content in the body was so high that the blood could remain fluid for a long time, and the rate of decay seemed to slow down significantly.

Although the corpse in front of them was stored in a refrigeration unit, after some time, its skin had begun to regain elasticity and the blood had turned into a thick, semi-coagulated state.

“Drugs?”

Ling Mo’s spirits lifted. Maybe this was the key to stimulating rapid growth!

But according to the memories he accessed from that intelligence group member, this experimental subject was unique, “Although the experiment was successful, it had to be terminated due to the high risk. There were no plans for a second trial.”

“If it wasn’t for Ban Yue and the old lady meddling, I might have been able to get the drug!” Ling Mo thought.

“After merging with various zombie blood, the scent of the drug has become a bit strange,” Xia Na sniffed carefully again, her expression suddenly turning odd, “It’s… quite fragrant. Although it’s just a hint of scent, it’s definitely very aromatic!”