Chapter 411 – The Bloody Girl

“Grumble, grumble.”

A small pebble rolled out from the corner of the street, just in time to catch the attention of two nearby zombies.

Their necks twisted at an unnatural angle as they turned, their faces grotesquely distorted.

“Roar…”

One of the zombies stared at the pebble for a moment, then extended its neck to sniff it. Seeing nothing unusual, it began to turn away.

However, just at that moment, the pebble suddenly moved.

“Whoosh!”

The pebble jerked backward, flew into the air, and quickly disappeared around the corner.

With a low growl, the two zombies leaped forward.

“Thunk! Thunk!”

As the blood holes appeared, Lucy swiftly grabbed the collars of the two zombies before they could hit the ground.

A female team member immediately stepped forward and sealed the wounds on their foreheads with prepared transparent tape to prevent any blood from spilling out.

“I can’t believe this actually worked…”

Lucy dragged the bodies to the corner and gently placed them next to several other corpses. “When Ling Mo first mentioned it, I thought it wouldn’t work at all…”

“But this seemingly childish plan took into account the zombies’ characteristics, the surrounding environment, and our abilities…”

Lucy glanced at the small pebble in her hand, squeezing the wire wrapped around it.

Using this inconspicuous bait, they had successfully killed nearly ten zombies in a very short time, even with a large horde of zombies nearby.

Though the idea was Ling Mo’s and it worked well, Lucy couldn’t help but feel a sudden surge of anger when she turned to see Ling Mo sitting casually by the flowerbed, looking extremely relaxed.

“I know your superpower isn’t affected by your posture, but could you at least stand up?” Lucy said coldly, glaring at Ling Mo.

“I don’t have a six-pack. What’s wrong with conserving some energy by sitting down…” Ling Mo stretched and said, “We’ve pretty much cleaned up, haven’t we?”

“Yes, these were the last two. But whether there are any zombies hiding in those buildings remains unknown,” Lucy said, discarding the pebble.

Ling Mo had already probed this in advance, so he shook his head. “These are the ones blocking the way.”

Yet, as he looked at the empty little street, Ling Mo’s brow furrowed slightly.

“What’s… what’s wrong?” Ye Lian tilted her head and asked.

“Nothing, let’s go.” Ling Mo smiled at her and reached out to hold her hand.

Ye Lian’s body stiffened, but she didn’t pull away. Instead, she lowered her head slightly, a faint smile appearing at the corner of her mouth.

“The girl’s memories are still being sorted out. Back then, Xia Na and Senior Sister went through this period too…” Ling Mo thought, glancing at Ye Lian from the corner of his eye.

However, Ye Lian’s situation seemed different from Xia Na and Senior Sister. Ling Mo was puzzled but could only wait and see for now.

“Surely she won’t reject me now just because she remembers too many embarrassing things from her childhood. After all, if she accepted the fact that I could pee three meters into the wind, she should be able to handle other embarrassing stuff too… Come to think of it, I do have a lot of black history1. Why didn’t anyone warn me back then?”

Ling Mo sighed deeply. At that time, he could never have imagined that his girlfriend would remember every detail, even those he had long forgotten…

“Oh well, as long as I don’t bring it up, I should be able to bluff my way through…”

The group carefully walked along the edge of the street, not speaking and treading lightly.

The shops along the street were dark, emitting a strange odor, and the street itself was empty except for them.

Behind these buildings was a dense horde of zombies. Even a single drop of blood could potentially draw a swarm of zombies.

In such terrifying conditions, the instinctive fear made everyone consciously avoid making any noise.

However, the further they walked, the more complex Ling Mo’s expression became, and his sense of foreboding continued to rise…

“Doesn’t it feel like this road is unusually long?” Lucy suddenly stopped and asked.

But when she turned around, she found that there was no one behind her…

“Creak…”

From just behind Lucy, a grating noise that would set anyone’s teeth on edge echoed out.

Lucy, her face cold and stern, slowly turned around, only to be horrified by the sight of a giant pumpkin head emerging from a shop.

Peering through the carved-out sections, she could see a pair of blood-red eyes and a gaping, bloody mouth…

“What on earth is this…” Lucy muttered, her eyes fixed on the pumpkin head as she reached behind to pull a pocket knife from her boot.

At the same time, Liu Baodong and the others found themselves in similar predicaments.

Liu Baodong was surrounded by two zombies, but afraid to shoot, he could only flee to the side with them in pursuit.

The male and female team members were also being chased by zombies. The sudden and bizarre situation left them panic-stricken, but they couldn’t even call for help.

With a horde of zombies nearby, calling for help would only result in a quicker death.

Meanwhile, Ling Mo felt a blur in front of his eyes, and suddenly, everyone around him had vanished.

The empty street was deserted, except for him.

“Ye Lian?” Ling Mo immediately tightened his grip, but when he looked back, he realized that the person he was holding wasn’t Ye Lian at all!

“Ha ha ha…”

A creature exuding a bloody aura, with short hair matted with blood, shining red eyes, arms hanging limply by her sides, and a blood-soaked dress…

Though she appeared frail and delicate, the girl kept emitting a sinister giggle.

She seemed harmless, but suddenly, she raised her arm and, with lightning speed, lunged at Ling Mo.

“What the…”

Any normal person would have let go in sheer panic at such a bizarre situation.

But as the girl zombie attacked Ling Mo, he calmly sidestepped and grabbed her wrist.

“Ye Lian, stop messing around, it’s me.”

Despite the surreal scene before him, Ling Mo’s psychic probe confirmed that the unfamiliar girl zombie standing beside him was indeed Ye Lian.

The girl froze for a moment after Ling Mo grabbed her, then tilted her head slightly as her tense body slowly relaxed.

Her big red eyes looked unexpectedly innocent and cute.

“To think someone turned my Ye Lian into this… a superhuman, right?”

Ling Mo frowned as he began searching for Xia Na and Li Yalin.

Although he couldn’t see them with his eyes, he could vaguely sense their presence through the psychic link.

“This must be some kind of mental ability, right? Does it directly affect the visual nerves, or is it an illusion?” Ling Mo thought for a moment and understood.

The superhuman’s ability probably covered just this street.

The zombies they had killed earlier were real; Ling Mo was sure of that.

But the reason these zombies were left here was likely a trick to lure them in.

Put the real ones in front, and leave the fake ones behind.

This kind of ability doesn’t have much killing power on its own, but it’s actually a very strong type.

If there hadn’t been a psychic link between Ling Mo and Ye Lian, they might have ended up fighting each other.

“The hordes of zombies are real too, so the superhuman’s power must be limited, right? Otherwise, he could have created countless zombies to attack us until we were exhausted. Or he could have made a missile appear over our heads, or Godzilla could suddenly show up… Any of these would make us believe we were doomed.”

Ling Mo rubbed his forehead, thinking, “Either his power is insufficient, or this guy just lacks imagination…”

He glanced at the “monster” Ye Lian, a sudden realization flashing in his eyes: “It’s just an influence of mental energy…”

Numerous psychic tentacles emerged from his psychic light cluster and slowly wrapped around the monster.

Soon, the monster in front of him began to ripple like a shadow.

When it finally calmed down, Ye Lian’s true form was revealed.

Her delicate features and mysterious, outstanding aura were unmistakable. The only problem was…

The tentacles on her body were still slightly trembling, and Ling Mo stroked his chin thoughtfully: “Should I take advantage of this illusion to indulge in some of my costume fantasies?”

Footnote:

1. black history(黑历史): black history is a colloquial term in Chinese that refers to embarrassing or regrettable moments from one’s past, often involving mistakes, misjudgments, or awkward situations. It’s used humorously or self-deprecatingly to refer to incidents or periods of time one would rather forget or hide.