Chapter 593 – The Smell Carries Three Miles

“Ah, you’re just jealous…” Ling Mo casually mocked.

Are they showing off their love? Clearly, these people are being the third wheel!

“…” Mu Chen chopped down a zombie that had emerged, too tense to think of a retort.

Ling Mo wasn’t wrong. He was envious!

While others were living a miserable and perilous life at times like these, how did this guy manage to live so comfortably?

Mu Chen even sadly thought, if he could have three gorgeous girlfriends, who cares about the Cataclysm or even dying tomorrow? That would be fine!

But then again, having such thoughts was pretty sad in itself, wasn’t it?

Envious!

“Well, he’s been single for thirty years…” Surprisingly, their teammate Xu Shuhan nodded in agreement, mercilessly adding salt to Mu Chen’s wounded heart.

“It’s not like you have a boyfriend either,” Mu Chen retorted furiously, finally finding a point of attack, smugly declaring it.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than he realized the atmosphere had shifted.

Why did it suddenly become… silent?

Mu Chen glanced around and noticed Xu Shuhan had already turned her gaze to the bus, shooting wildly as if the zombies before her were all “Mu Chen,” bearing the brunt of her anger.

Xia Zhi, his face smeared with soot, looked at him painfully. As for Ling Mo, he held nothing back in expressing his disdain.

“Hey, hey, what did I do? She started it… Damn, she clearly discriminated against me first…” Mu Chen felt incredibly awkward, hurriedly defending himself.

However, the responses were just more silence and even more obvious disdain…

“I… damn, can you guys not do this!” Mu Chen continued to freak out. How come nobody united against the common enemy when he was being attacked?

Xu Shuhan shot a zombie in the head and then turned to Ling Mo, saying, “Let’s leave quickly. I feel the number of zombies is increasing again.”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Ling Mo nodded.

“Hey, don’t ignore me!” Mu Chen said, full of lament.

“Can someone tell me what did I do wrong!” Mu Chen shouted helplessly from behind the group.

As soon as the group crawled out of the temporary passage, Ye Lian and the others immediately turned and blocked the opening with a “clang.”

No sooner had this makeshift “wall” taken shape than a series of muffled “thump thump” sounds echoed from the other side.

Bits of debris began to fall continuously. It seemed the wall wouldn’t hold for long.

“Let’s move,” Ling Mo said without looking back.

The bus had crashed into what looked like an office space. After making their way through the wreckage, Ling Mo and the group entered a pitch-dark, large mobile phone mall.

When the disaster struck, the place had been under renovation. Apart from some impatiently opened counters, most areas were still covered in plastic sheets or piled with construction materials.

The windows were plastered with advertising posters, thick with dust, letting in only faint light.

Ling Mo went up to a window, wiped a gap clear with his hand, and peered out. “It’s full of zombies outside. We need to find another way.”

The commotion here was so loud, not to mention the smell of blood that could have attracted zombies from three streets away.

There was a Berserker earlier, so other zombies might not have dared to come. But now that the Alpha Zombie was gone, its deterrence vanished as well.

The newly arrived zombies might not necessarily be after Ling Mo and his group. They were more likely drawn by their own kind’s corpses, especially the Alpha Zombie’s body.

As an Alpha Zombie, his existence was part of the competition. Securing his corpse would bring the next Alpha Zombie one step closer to being born.

However, the “most nutritious” part of that corpse was now in Ling Mo’s jacket pocket.

Ling Mo couldn’t help but wonder maliciously, would those zombies go berserk on the spot once they battled to get it, only to find it had already been taken?

“Damn these monsters, they’re driving me insane!” Mu Chen joined him at the window, spat in frustration, and said.

The group ventured deeper into the mall, where numerous obstacles blocked their vision, making it impossible to see the entire layout or locate other entrances and exits.

After a short walk, they came across an elevator access point. However, the yellow quarantine tape hanging from the ceiling suggested that the elevators had never been operational.

“How many floors are there?” Ling Mo suddenly asked.

Earlier, the urgency of the situation had him focusing entirely on the bus, so he hadn’t noticed this particular detail.

“Four floors, not tall, but pretty spacious inside,” Xia Na confidently replied.

She had just finished an exhilarating round of killing and still seemed quite spirited, striding ahead with her scythe.

Hearing Ling Mo’s question, Xia Na answered offhandedly.

Xu Shuhan was momentarily stunned. Who would pay attention to the number of floors in such a situation and remember it so precisely?

She certainly hadn’t noticed, but judging from Xia Na’s tone, she seemed quite sure of herself.

Ling Mo’s reaction also caught Xu Shuhan’s attention. He didn’t seem to doubt Xia Na and appeared to be thinking about something else entirely.

“Strange…” Xu Shuhan frowned, but she couldn’t figure out what was off.

While Xia Na and her group weren’t worried about zombies suddenly appearing, Mu Chen and the other three were very cautious.

They moved quietly with their weapons readied, constantly looking around warily.

“What are you thinking about? Hurry up and find an exit,” Mu Chen whispered, slipping next to Ling Mo.

Ling Mo immediately frowned, putting some distance between himself and Mu Chen with a look of disgust.

“Don’t ignore me…” Mu Chen growled.

“Don’t come near me!” Ling Mo yelled back.

Only then did Mu Chen notice that everyone else was avoiding him too…

He glanced down at himself in confusion and took a deep sniff.

“Holy crap!” His face turned dark, nearly gagging from his own smell.

Even the visibly dirty Xia Zhi was looking at him with disdain, indicating just how foul he must smell.

“I bet those zombies are cleaner than you,” Ling Mo commented.

“Damn it! We need to get out of here!” Mu Chen was almost in tears; he had turned into a walking stink bomb.

As the main body slowly moved inside the mall, the female zombie under Ling Mo’s control emerged from the third office building.

But the result was the same—she found nothing.

This left Ling Mo frustrated. Where else could they have missed?

Thinking it over, Ling Mo suddenly thought of a blind spot.

Could it be… here?!

He hadn’t paid much attention to this place earlier because the building wasn’t very tall.

Asking casually, the answer he received confirmed his impression.

Because the place where Yu Shiran and the others were hiding should be very secluded, not discovered by other survivors, Ling Mo had assumed it must be a large office building. But now, upon reflection, that thinking seemed quite limited.

Places like a mobile phone mall wouldn’t be targeted for a search by survivors either.

With no people around, what use were phones?

Even if they were looking for a phone to attract zombies, they wouldn’t come to a place that hadn’t even officially opened yet…

With this thought, Ling Mo increasingly felt that this mall was very suspicious!

Given that the female zombie puppet had come up empty as well, Ling Mo decided it was safer to search the place before they left.

However, looking down at the dark lower levels, he realized there was another problem.

How could he convince the other three to stay here temporarily?

Especially since Mu Chen kept chanting about finding an exit like a broken record right behind him, Xu Shuhan kept glancing at him, and Xia Zhi, who was trying to avoid Ye Lian and the others…

“Uh…” Ling Mo frowned, thinking hard, then suddenly had a stroke of inspiration.

A sly smile flickered on his lips as he shifted part of his attention to the female zombie puppet.

The female zombie, who had been standing in a daze at the street corner, suddenly shook slightly and turned her gaze towards the mall.

Ignoring the mass of zombies flocking around, she twisted her neck and suddenly broke into a run.

After a burst of frantic running, the female zombie had already neared the mall.