Chapter 477 – The Opponent’s Preparation

The first rain of spring arrived unexpectedly on the second day after Ling Mo had made his arrangements.

The sky was a grayish-white, and streams of red, murky water flowed down the streets into the sewers. The air seemed even more pungent with the smell of blood than usual.

This was the suburban area of X City. On the wide, desolate road, a rusty but still conspicuous road sign hung high above:

“To F City from here.”

“Captain Li, come take a look.”

At this moment, three figures stood in the rain outside a hotel. One of them, a gray-clad man, squatted down and suddenly called out.

He inserted his finger into a small hole in the ground, stirred it a bit, and then brought his finger to his nose to sniff: “What is this? A bullet hole? Doesn’t seem like it…”

“Hmm…”

Li Hao frowned as he glanced at it and then suddenly closed his eyes.

A moment later, he opened them and said, “There are traces of mental energy. It’s definitely that guy Ling Mo. Isn’t his psychic power capable of Materialization?”

“Even if it can materialize, this is just…”

The gray-clad man moved his foot away, looking at the row of holes on the ground, speechless:

“This psychic power is too strong…”

“When I first heard this intel, I never imagined that the so-called Materialization could be this powerful. This guy… really has reason to be arrogant.”

Li Hao walked over to a nearby bloodstain. There were some torn clothes left, but the body was gone. It was obvious where it had gone.

“Yin Jie’s screams before he died didn’t sound like ordinary pain… What did he do to Yin Jie with his materialized psychic power?”

Li Hao used his toe to rub off some bloodstains, thinking: “This is a blank spot in our intel. And what exactly is the extent of his so-called ‘command’ over mutation beasts?”

“Hmph, no matter how strong he is, this time we…”

The gray-clad man snorted coldly and said.

“Enough, haven’t you learned your lesson yet? Underestimate him again, and the next Yin Jie will be you.”

Li Hao glared at him, cutting him off. “They wouldn’t be foolish enough to wait at this hotel, that’s for sure. But coming here has been useful. Besides confirming and enhancing our intel, we’ve made some other gains. I can feel that they’re nearby, in this area…” He glanced around and sighed. “Unfortunately, I can’t pinpoint their exact location, but they’re not in this hotel or on this street.”

“Looks like this guy isn’t stupid. I thought he might be lying in ambush here, waiting for us to show up…”

The raincoat man, who had been standing quietly, suddenly spoke. Under his low, rain-drenched hat were bloodless lips and a sharp chin, making his voice light and gender ambiguous. “On the surface, lying in wait seems like a pretty good plan… if he were to use it against us.”

“He doesn’t know anything about our capabilities. He wouldn’t risk doing something that rash. Besides, he must know that some of us are good at tracking, right? Staying here would make him an easy target.”

Li Hao shook his head and then suddenly turned to the raincoat man. “Until we find him, you’ll have to be patient. Get ready, he’s a rare and worthy adversary.”

“Alright.” The raincoat man nodded slightly.

“Let’s move. We’ll coordinate with the aerial squad. We should have news soon.”

Li Hao stuffed his hands into his pockets and began walking to the other side of the street. He muttered to himself, “Don’t disappoint me. At least try to survive a bit longer under our pursuit…”

The two followed, one after the other. As they passed the row of small holes, the raincoat man paused briefly.

Under the rain hat, a curious gaze lingered on the holes for a moment, then slowly moved away. “Materialization… interesting…”

Two days later, in the skies above this district—

A distant buzzing sound grew louder as a helicopter approached, swiftly flying over the road and hovering above the ruins of the buildings.

“Roar!”

The zombies wandering on the street simultaneously looked up, and some burst out of the roadside buildings.

They waved their arms toward the sky, letting out furious roars.

At the cabin door, a young man wearing a duckbill cap was peering outside.

Watching the zombies looking up at the helicopter, the duckbill cap smirked and whistled flippantly.

“Man… this is boring. We’re supposed to be out here fighting, but after two days of flying around, I’m getting airsick…”

He turned and looked at a man sitting inside the cabin. “Hey, I heard that guy can command mutation beasts. Is that true? What about zombies? Can he control them too?”

“Who knows…” The man, who had been resting with his eyes closed, lifted his cap and yawned.

“Mental abilities are complicated. It could be some sort of hallucination effect. If he uses illusions to mislead mutation beasts and guides them to act according to his will, it’s not impossible. As for zombies… if he can command mutation beasts, he can probably control zombies too. But there must be a lot of limitations. Otherwise, it would be like having full control over them. From what we know, the mutation beasts don’t fully obey him yet, which is a good thing.”

“Just because he can command mutation beasts, how strong can he be? At most, it’s like having a few extra helpers,” the duckbill cap scoffed.

“That’s what I think too… Ah, ah,” the man yawned again. “If we didn’t know about it, we’d be at a disadvantage. But now that we do, what could go wrong? Look at those zombies below, what can they do to us? I think his materialized psychic power is the real trump card. But… heh, heh, can his psychic power reach up here?”

“I’d like to know what materialized psychic power looks like. Maybe his brain doesn’t have any brain matter, just solidified ‘psychic power’? Hahaha…”

The duckbill cap laughed exaggeratedly.

“Alright, alright, with Captain Li personally taking action this time, if we capture this guy alive, you can dig out his brain and study it all you want.”

“Good idea… Damn, Yin Jie and the others are too weak. They only managed to kill one person, and it was a woman.”

The duckbill cap shifted the topic with a hint of disdain.

The man sneered and said, “Incompetent is incompetent. He deserved to die.”

“Heh, heh, do you think… they had their way with her before killing her? Didn’t Liu Baodong say she was pretty?” the duckbill cap lowered his voice and asked with a grin.

“Damn it, that’s all you think about…” The man shot him a sidelong glance.

“What else is there to think about? I haven’t been with a woman in months. Dick is getting moldy…”

The duckbill cap suddenly sighed and said, “You know, we’ve been searching this road for over two days now. This is almost the third day… I’m telling you, this guy must have been spooked a long time ago. He’s probably hiding somewhere, determined not to come out.”

The man sat up straight, twisting his neck casually, and said, “Why are you in such a hurry? Captain Li said he’s sure that this group is in this area. Besides, our job is high-altitude harassment. Constantly searching and keeping him on edge. For a superhuman with mental abilities, being in a bad mental state is like committing suicide. This is psychological warfare, understand? Plus, these stirred-up zombies are causing them a lot of trouble.

If he decides to stay hidden, that’s fine. The Ground Squad will find him sooner or later and take him out when he’s in a bad state. If he’s any kind of man, he’ll come out and fight. Even though he’s strong, we’re up here, keeping our distance. What can he do to us? As long as we can stall him for a while, the Ground Squad will arrive. With both air and ground forces, he’s dead.

In short, this guy named Ling Mo is doomed.”

“Heh, heh, heh…”

The two exchanged a grin. The duckbill cap said lightly, “It’s his own bad luck. Who told him to keep crossing us?”