Chapter 40 – Powers Are Great, But Don’t Blow Your Cover

It had been more than a day since Ling Mo had obtained the Mutation Zombie Gel. During this time, he had given two pieces of slightly lower purity Virus to Xia Na, while carefully hiding the rest on his person.

To avoid Virus infection, he had specially placed the Gel in a plastic bag.

Although he had previously handled it with his hands, that was only for a short period. Storing it close to his body like this, regardless of the infection risk, the gross feeling alone was unbearable.

When he fed the Gel to Xia Na yesterday, its appearance hadn’t changed much. However, after more than a night, taking it out now, it looked quite different…

Originally, there had been several pieces of Gel, but they had quietly merged into one another without him noticing, leaving only two distinguishable pieces. The overall volume had shrunk to less than half!

Could it be that Virus Gel can devour each other? Ling Mo held the plastic bag up to his face, finding that the Virus Gel in his hand was indeed different from before.

It was clearer and redder… The red parts, which originally looked like blood vessels distributed inside the Gel, now almost completely enveloped it.

“What kind of Virus is this…” Ling Mo was full of doubts. However, he didn’t have the knowledge in this area; his understanding of the Virus Gel came from observing Ye Lian. Nonetheless, the purer the Virus Gel, the more useful it was to Ye Lian—that much he was certain of.

What Ling Mo hadn’t expected was that as soon as he took the Gel out of the plastic bag, Xia Na’s emotions showed a slight fluctuation.

Her eyes quickly turned red, staring intently at the Gel in Ling Mo’s hand.

Despite being infected and transformed into a Mutation Zombie, Xia Na’s condition was vastly different from ordinary zombies, even having a fundamental distinction!

Regular Mutation Zombies are characterized by their lack of rationality and extreme aggressiveness. However, when Xia Na wasn’t in a frenzy, she occasionally showed a hint of confusion. She even reacted slightly to familiar people, like Wang Lin. Moreover, whenever someone called her name, she would turn her attention towards them. This behavior was definitely not something a regular zombie would exhibit.

On the other hand, Xia Na retained the traits of a Mutation Zombie, including her aggressiveness. Perhaps because she had consumed two pieces of Virus Gel during her mutation process, her strength wasn’t on par with that of a typical Mutation Zombie, but her behavior had completely aligned with theirs. She attacked her kind without mercy and craved the Gel…

At this moment, as Ling Mo took out the two pieces of obviously refined Virus Gel, not only did Ye Lian immediately convey her desire to him, but even Xia Na began to show signs of restlessness.

But Xia Na’s rate of consuming Virus Gel was too fast! She had just ingested two pieces of Mutation Gel, and it hadn’t even been forty-eight hours!

Ling Mo hesitated, glancing at Xia Na, but a slight pain suddenly pricked his mind. The red glow in Xia Na’s eyes grew brighter… It seemed that if he didn’t give her the Gel, she might break free from his control and pounce to snatch it.

Reluctantly, Ling Mo handed one piece of Gel to Xia Na. She grabbed it eagerly, as if holding the most delicious delicacy, and quickly stuffed it into her mouth.

However, after swallowing the extremely pure Virus Gel, Xia Na suddenly stiffened. A strange light red hue rapidly spread over her skin.

Ling Mo was shocked, but as he reached out to support Xia Na, he immediately sensed something was wrong. Her appearance suggested a high body temperature, but her skin felt cool to the touch!

Following this, a look of struggle appeared in Xia Na’s eyes. She even mouthed as if trying to say something. Additionally, her mental fluctuations became extremely intense. If Ling Mo hadn’t gritted his teeth and held on desperately, she might have completely broken free from his control.

After about ten seconds, Xia Na suddenly tilted her head and fainted.

Ling Mo finally collapsed to the ground, exhausted. Forcibly controlling Xia Na had drained him completely; he couldn’t have held on for another minute.

Thankfully, Xia Na couldn’t withstand the impact of the Virus and passed out, her mental fluctuations calming from a boiling state to complete silence.

This silence was almost eerie… Even when Ling Mo had first controlled Ye Lian, it wasn’t completely silent. At that time, her instinctual desires were already stronger than those of regular zombies.

Regular zombies, however, couldn’t be described as silent; they were a complete blank, devoid of any thoughts or emotions. Xia Na’s current mental state was as if all fluctuations had ceased. Yet, beneath that surface calm, there might be a raging storm.

Unfortunately, Ling Mo’s Psychic Power wasn’t strong enough to peer into others’ minds. He could only sense that all of Xia Na’s desires and resistance had vanished, yet it wasn’t the complete emptiness of a regular zombie.

After Xia Na consumed the Gel, Ling Mo sensed a subtle change. Perhaps because his Psychic Link with Xia Na wasn’t strong enough, and her mental world was now utterly silent, the impact of the Virus Gel transformation on him through their link wasn’t profound.

Even so, Ling Mo could feel a slight surge of frenzy deep in his mind, causing his heartbeat to quicken.

At first, this sensation concerned Ling Mo, but after a while, nothing more happened. He guessed that the change brought by Xia Na might be limited to just this feeling…

“What will Xia Na ultimately become…” Ling Mo thought, looking at the unconscious Xia Na, who still tightly gripped her Long Knife, her face pale and lips pressed firmly together. Ling Mo couldn’t help but feel a pang of pity.

She had survived in the Apocalypse by her own skills, even taking care of so many classmates, only to be betrayed by her own people and end up like this.

And Ye Lian… If it weren’t for wanting to cook him dinner, she wouldn’t have been trapped in the bus. She might have had a chance to live, but now she had turned into a Mutation Zombie…

Ling Mo sighed quietly, lifted Xia Na, and placed her on the sofa. Then, he took the last piece of Virus Gel and walked over to Ye Lian.

This piece of Virus Gel was larger and its color was a more vivid red.

Unlike Xia Na, Ye Lian had been starving for several days. Since encountering Xia Na and the others, Ye Lian hadn’t consumed any Virus Gel. By today, her craving had reached a critical point.

This was also why Ling Mo was eager to part ways with Liu Yuhao and the others. Although he thought Liu Yuhao was a decent person, he didn’t trust him enough to reveal everything, let alone form a deep bond.

Neither his Puppet Control Ability nor this method of artificially accelerating zombie evolution could be exposed to others. Such methods would seem not just bizarre but outright insane and terrifying to outsiders!

And that’s not even mentioning that one of his controlled subjects was Xia Na…

Until their parting, Liu Yuhao believed that Xia Na’s lack of aggression towards Ling Mo was due to a sliver of remaining rationality and some inexplicable closeness to him. He couldn’t possibly imagine that Ling Mo, an ordinary person, possessed the ability to control zombies!

If he knew, the situation would likely be very different. And if Liu Yuhao couldn’t accept it, could Wang Lin?

Even regular Survivors would certainly not be able to accept such a fear-inducing ability.

Therefore, while the Puppet Control Ability was advantageous, it had to be kept secret from everyone until he became significantly stronger…