Chapter 638 – Careless Throwing Always Leads to Trouble

Ling Mo fiddled with his mobile phone for a while and quickly found the built-in offline map package.

“It doesn’t have any markings…” Ling Mo said as he flipped through the maps for a while.

“Let me see,” Xia Na snatched the mobile phone and asked while looking at it, “Have you never used this kind of software before?”

Ling Mo felt a bit embarrassed: “I haven’t changed my mobile phone for several years.”

“Mobile phones with offline maps usually come with a built-in navigation system. Although you can’t get real-time traffic updates without refreshing, it’s still fine for seeing basic routes,” Xia Na explained, “Look, once you turn on the navigation, you can see the records…”

“You do it,” Ling Mo scratched his head and said.

Xia Na glanced at him and shook her head, “You’re really quite clueless…”

“It’s for work!” Ling Mo replied sternly.

“Alright,” Xia Na completely ignored his excuse and handed the mobile phone back to him, “From here, we can see that he passed through Xinlan Town and Heishui City before arriving at Dongming.”

“Wait, Xinlan?” Ling Mo quickly looked at the mobile phone screen and pointed to a dark spot near Xinlan Town, “Isn’t this Cuihu?”

“Yes, Xinlan is a town under Cuihu,” Xia Na nodded.

“Heishui… that means he’s out of the province?” Ling Mo continued following the points on the map and said.

“Yes, that’s considered a large central province with a dense population. The surrounding provinces are also quite prosperous, not like this mountainous area,” Xia Na explained.

Ling Mo stared at the map for a while and suddenly felt genuinely grateful.

How lucky to have such a smart person around who remembers everything…

“What’s taking so long?!” Mu Chen’s voice came from outside; he had finally run out of patience.

Ling Mo hurriedly put away the viral hive and waved to Li Yalin and the others.

The female zombies understood the gesture immediately and dug out No.1’s virus gel, then dragged the body aside.

As soon as the scent of blood spread, Xu Shuhan’s breathing became rapid again.

Xia Na, holding the corpse, thought for a moment, then simply threw it out the window.

“Thud!”

The sound of the body hitting the ground came from afar, and Ling Mo was taken aback, “Hey!”

Xia Na tilted her head towards Xu Shuhan: “Isn’t there someone who can’t control herself? She’s practically drooling over human flesh right now.”

“What do you mean drooling…” Ling Mo was about to complain, but then he noticed that Xu Shuhan was biting her lip in discomfort, her body writhing and struggling under the restraint of the tentacles, her hands scratching aimlessly at the sofa.

“It really is…” Ling Mo nodded, but then realized something was off.

Wait, does that mean Xu Shuhan was “drooling” over him earlier?

“What am I thinking…” Ling Mo snapped out of it and reached out to help Xu Shuhan with her coat.

Urgent knocking came from the door again: “Hurry up!”

Before Ling Mo could respond with “Okay,” Mu Chen impatiently pushed open the door, his face full of urgency: “Hurry up! Niepan is here!”

“How did they find us?” Ling Mo was startled and quickly ran to the window to look down.

What he saw left him speechless.

No.1’s body was lying on the ground, and a few people were standing nearby. One of them, a man, was looking up.

Judging by the man’s good vision, the moment Ling Mo appeared, he immediately raised his hand and pointed upwards.

“We have to go,” Ling Mo quickly turned around and shouted.

As he passed by Xia Na, he lightly flicked her nose: “Learn your lesson!”

“Got it… I won’t throw things around anymore,” Xia Na said, pouting.

“Forget it, there’s no way we could have avoided this,” Ling Mo said as he helped Xu Shuhan up, looked around, and then said, “This way.”

With Niepan actively searching for them, it was only a matter of time before they were found.

After killing Shen Le, they should have gone as far as possible, but because of Xu Shuhan, they had to temporarily stay nearby.

This place wasn’t far from the scene and was just outside the fire scene, making it a prime search area.

“Who’s coming?” Ling Mo asked as he led the group towards the stairwell.

Mu Chen clutched his stomach and quickly replied, “I don’t know. I just saw a few familiar faces, and they’re already catching up. Ai Feng is still down there.”

“Ai Feng?” Ling Mo recalled Mu Chen mentioning him and made the connection to the man downstairs.

“Branch leader, more or less,” Mu Chen said. “And those other guys—pretty strong, too.”

“Looks like the partnership is a bust,” Ling Mo sighed.

Mu Chen rolled his eyes: “You’re still thinking about partnership? Weren’t you quite efficient when you killed that guy?”

“Isn’t that just a small bump in the road for you guys?” Ling Mo remarked.

“He’s not just any insignificant Level 9 member!” Mu Chen shouted, “He was from headquarters, and you killed an important experimental subject.”

“I see… well, nothing we can do about it now,” Ling Mo sighed again.

But Mu Chen couldn’t shake the feeling that, despite Ling Mo’s tone sounding regretful, he didn’t seem genuinely sorry at all.

Thinking it over, Mu Chen suddenly exclaimed, “You never had any good intentions from the start, did you?”

Seeing Ling Mo remain silent, Mu Chen decided to move on from the topic. He glanced at Xu Shuhan nervously and asked, “How is she?”

“Not entirely sure yet. At least she won’t rot away immediately,” Ling Mo replied.

“Well, that’s something. But how did you do it? What exactly is your deal?” Mu Chen asked, following behind, his head filled with questions.

They were in a mall, which had multiple floors and several staircases since the elevators were out of service.

Ling Mo used his psychic probe to stay aware of the situation ahead while leading them through the mall, weaving in and out of different areas.

With Mu Chen injured and unable to fight, and Xu Shuhan being an unstable factor, Ling Mo didn’t want to engage in a direct confrontation under such circumstances.

But running indefinitely wasn’t a viable plan either. This was Niepan’s branch territory, and they had the advantage in both terrain and manpower.

“Let’s assess the situation first,” said Ling Mo, restraining Xu Shuhan again as she moved closer, his words steady.

“I bet the exits are blocked,” Mu Chen suggested. “If they set the place on fire, we’re in big trouble.”

“Even if they set a fire, it won’t be a big deal,” Ling Mo thought for a moment and then asked, “But do you have any way to delay them? Maybe… use your history as a former member of Niepan to help?”

Mu Chen’s eyes widened immediately…

…

“Did you see that guy just now?” Downstairs, a man withdrew his gaze from above and asked.

In the moonlight, the scar on his face looked particularly gruesome, like a writhing centipede.

The people around him all shook their heads. “Didn’t notice…”

“It could very well be him…” Scarface Ai Feng lowered his head and glanced again at the corpse at his feet.

No.1 had fallen from the sky, startling him even though it landed some distance away.

When he got closer, he was almost driven to bang his head against the wall.

Although he despised this monster, the experimental subject was killed right on his turf!

This not only dashed his hopes of getting credit and a promotion, but headquarters might even hold him accountable!

Compared to a successful experimental subject, what was an advanced branch member like him worth?

The issue with No.0 being injured hadn’t been resolved, and now another valuable asset was lost under his watch…

“Go, you all go after him! Block all the entrances and exits! We must catch this guy! Dead or alive!” Ai Feng clenched his fists and roared.

The group exchanged glances, then nodded and rushed towards the building.

Ai Feng stood there, breathing heavily, before coldly lifting his gaze back to the window where he had seen the figure earlier.

Though it was just a fleeting glimpse, he had memorized that young man’s face clearly.

“Wait, come back here.”

Ai Feng called back one of the men, speaking in a dark tone, “Go notify headquarters to send more people. And… involve Number 0 in the operation. If I can’t capture him, keeping it around won’t be useful. It’s time for it to serve me.”

The man looked at Ai Feng in surprise, then quickly nodded, “Oh, right away.”

Ai Feng watched as the member left, then drew a gleaming knife from his waist: “This time, it’s either him or me.”

With that, he gripped the knife and approached the building, disappearing into the dark entrance…

…

“Click.”

In the darkness, a beam of light from a flashlight swept in, accompanied by a faint sound.

The member was startled at first but then looked down at his feet.

After moving his foot, he saw a cracked piece of plastic on the floor.

Breathing a small sigh of relief, the member cautiously directed his attention ahead, moving the flashlight side to side.

The area in front seemed to be a jewelry counter, and under the beam of the flashlight, glimmers of gold could be seen.

However, he was more focused on the dark corners and the areas behind the counters which were out of sight.

Clutching a sharp steel rod in his hand, he slowly inched forward.

“Bang.”

A noise suddenly emerged from the darkness, causing the member’s hair to stand on end. He turned off the flashlight instantly and pressed himself against the wall.

As his eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, the surrounding environment began to reveal itself in vague outlines.

With wide eyes, he edged along the wall towards the source of the sound, raising the steel rod in his hand.

“Bang.”

Another noise echoed, accompanied by the faint sound of heavy breathing.

In the stillness, the sound was both clear and terrifying.

Holding his breath, the member moved silently inch by inch toward the sound.

Getting closer…

He slowly maneuvered behind a counter and cautiously peeked over it.

Seeing a head, he didn’t hesitate and struck downward with a solid “thud.”

With the sound of breaking glass, the head wobbled and then dropped to the ground with a “thump.”

The member quickly turned on his flashlight and pointed it behind the counter.

But in the stark white light, what he saw was a plastic mannequin with a smashed head, staring at him with empty eyes.

At the same moment, a dark shadow lunged at him from behind…