Chapter 693 – Abnormal Behavior Patterns

The broad street outside the mall now looked desolate.

The street was clogged with abandoned cars, with occasional signs of crashes and even explosions.

Through the dust-covered windows, one could see blood splattered inside the vehicles, and even fragmented bones.

Many zombies were slowly moving between these vehicles, their arms hanging down, heads tilted at eerie angles, mouths slightly open, and their blood-red eyes looking soulless.

However, the occasional flash of frenzy in their eyes hinted that they were all dangerous beasts.

On the other side of the street was a park and greenbelt overgrown with weeds.

The plants that were once carefully trimmed now looked like monstrous beings with outstretched claws.

Some branches had thorns, and even the leaves were jagged…

However, upon closer inspection, one could see a temporarily cleared path in the greenbelt close to the mall.

But the trampled weeds quickly regained their vitality and were slowly lifting their heads.

Soon, there would be no trace of anyone having passed through.

Click…

Suddenly, the dense branches parted, and a figure emerged from the greenbelt.

He stared with blood-red eyes and lowered his head woodenly, looking at the traces on the grass.

After sniffing, the zombie’s gaze gradually moved up, finally stopping at an Iron Door not far away.

The door was tightly closed, but a clear handprint was visible on the doorknob.

“Click click…”

He opened his mouth, making a harsh sound.

It seemed like laughter, but it was grating…

As this zombie slowly walked towards the Iron Door, meanwhile, in the basement level one of the mall, the little zombie under Ling Mo’s control was continuing to explore the darkness.

“Click, click, click…”

In the darkness, occasional faint sounds could be heard, as if something was hiding in every corner, whispering.

The little zombie occasionally turned its head to look around. Those Red Glimmers visible at a glance represented dozens or even hundreds of zombies, which were also moving slowly on this level.

“Roar!”

Suddenly, a roar erupted, followed by a series of muffled thuds.

The smell of blood quickly spread, causing a commotion around them.

The little zombie quickly jumped onto a table, then onto another counter, hiding behind it.

The sounds of collision continued, and the smell of blood grew stronger.

The little zombie covered its nose, completely concealing its presence.

“What’s that sound?” Xu Shuhan emerged from behind a shelf and asked.

“Shh, zombies below,” Ling Mo pointed to the ground.

Xu Shuhan felt a chill run down her spine, but seeing Ling Mo remain calm, she began to relax.

“Aren’t you used to it by now?” Xu Shuhan asked while straightening her clothes.

“Used to what?” Ling Mo responded with a question.

His Zombie Puppet was avoiding the small skirmish below. In such a relatively enclosed environment, it was normal for zombies to battle each other. But considering how much time had passed, the fact that there were still so many zombies down there… It was clear how packed the place was right after the disaster broke out.

Of course, zombies in a non-combat state have extremely low energy consumption, which is one reason for their continued numbers.

And then there’s reproduction…

However, it seemed that Ling Mo hadn’t found the source on the basement level, which surprised him a bit.

Logically speaking, it’s usually possible to find strange things in such dark places.

While zombies don’t have an aversion to light, Senior Zombies often find relatively enclosed places as their temporary dens. They stay there until there are no suitable prey left in the area, then they move on.

Wait!

Ling Mo suddenly recalled something.

According to records, the enhanced, or King level Zombies, were supposed to appear in Cuihu, yet he encountered one in Xinlan Town.

Xinlan had a lot of suitable prey, but so did Cuihu!

Moreover, the zombies in Cuihu were of clearly higher quality and more numerous.

In other words, the zombies there should taste better…

If that’s the case, why leave Cuihu and go to Xinlan?

What caused this change in Cuihu…?

…

“Not afraid of zombies, huh,” Xu Shuhan continued, snapping Ling Mo out of his thoughts.

Most people wouldn’t dare to calmly change clothes knowing there were zombies right beneath their feet…

She even entertained a wild thought—could Ling Mo have a virus immunity?

If he had such an immunity, any faction or powerful Survivor would definitely try to capture him.

Xu Shuhan suddenly understood why Ling Mo kept such a low profile. For one, humans universally hated zombies, and for another, he was an enticing prize…

“It’s not that I’m not afraid, but we’re still within a safe range,” Ling Mo said.

His psychic link could measure distances, and his Zombie Puppet hadn’t found anything. As long as they didn’t alarm the zombies, they were safe.

To be able to multitask to this extent was something Ling Mo had thoroughly trained himself to do.

If someone else suddenly tried it, they’d likely end up with schizophrenia…

“Alright, alright, you’re always right,” Xu Shuhan shook her head.

She didn’t believe things were as simple as Ling Mo made them sound. It seemed like Xia Na and Li Yalin cleared this floor so quickly because they were strong, but she knew it was because they were Senior Zombies.

Anyway, Ling Mo now seemed mysterious to her, and for some reason, she found his scent surprisingly pleasant.

But on closer inspection, it wasn’t exactly the scent of a zombie…

Yet comparatively, it was different from Mu Chen’s scent as well.

Despite herself, Xu Shuhan indeed preferred staying by Ling Mo’s side.

“Fine, if you won’t explain, I won’t ask. And… don’t worry,” Xu Shuhan suddenly said. “I won’t say a word about it.”

“Huh?” Ling Mo was momentarily taken aback. After a few seconds, he waved his hand and said, “You’re a zombie. How would you even get a chance to tell anyone…”

“Hey…” Xu Shuhan was left speechless. At least show some gratitude for her discretion!

“If you were the type to blabber, I wouldn’t have saved you,” Ling Mo added.

Xu Shuhan sighed. Was that a compliment, or was he just saying he was good at judging character…?

“I feel like something isn’t quite right here,” Ling Mo suddenly changed the topic.

“Hmm?” Xu Shuhan was caught off guard.

“It’s too calm,” Ling Mo continued.

“Calm?” Xu Shuhan’s eyes twitched. This wasn’t calm at all. Isn’t the basement causing a ruckus?

Though they were separated by a floor and she could only hear faint noises, it was obvious that things were pretty chaotic down there.

“Yes, you see, while there’s noise below, it’s not on a large scale,” Ling Mo said, frowning.

Xu Shuhan stared at the floor beneath her feet. There was no way she could see through a thick layer of flooring to gauge any “scale,” and she had no idea how Ling Mo could possibly know…

“Anyway, once we’ve resupplied the necessary items, we’ll leave,” Xu Shuhan said, feeling somewhat uneasy as she lifted her head.

Just thinking about the zombies beneath them made her skin crawl.

This was a hard feeling to control. Just because she was in the process of mutating didn’t mean she suddenly felt indifferent about zombies.

She hadn’t completely transformed yet…

“Yeah.” Ling Mo, despite feeling uneasy, knew they couldn’t waste time here.

If he couldn’t find anything, he could only chalk it up to paranoia…

However, the sense of unease was very strong. Ling Mo even felt that his psychic fluctuations had become somewhat unusual.

It was as if he sensed a threat, yet at the same time, he seemed oddly excited, as if stimulated by something.

More importantly, he could feel the Frenzy he had suppressed starting to subtly resurface…

This feeling usually only appeared when he was enhancing himself with the female zombies or when he was severely provoked.

But for it to show up now, out of the blue… Why?

If he were to put it in a mystical way, Ling Mo felt as though something was drawing him in.

There was basis in his statement about the scale not being large. Looking outside from behind the shelves, the little zombie could clearly see a dozen zombies pinning down another zombie and eating it.

From the smell of blood, it seemed that the virus concentration in this zombie was quite low, even lower than that of a common zombie.

In a zombie horde, this would undoubtedly make it a weakling, destined to be eliminated.

Strangely, under normal circumstances, the zombies on this floor would likely crowd around.

Then, due to the uneven distribution of the food, more zombies would start fighting, and the newly emerged weakest zombie might become the next victim.

Although many would die, the zombies that obtained opportunities for evolution would increase.

It is through such intense competition that the zombie horde continuously improves as a whole.

Those Senior Zombies emerged gradually through this very process.

Yet, here, the farther away zombies noticed the corpse was surrounded and simply didn’t approach…

When Ling Mo and his group first encountered zombies, it seemed to be the same…

In their presence, the common zombie corpses were something they could completely abandon.

And when the Big Guy was taken down, not all the zombies swarmed over.

The behavior patterns of these zombies… were indeed odd.

With such behavior, wouldn’t the speed of evolution be quite slow?

This doesn’t align with the characteristics brought by the virus…

Seeing that the distant zombies had no intention of crowding in from the start, the little zombie slowly stepped out again.

They had nearly finished searching the basement, but the sense of unease still lingered, yet when they thoroughly searched, they found nothing…

This was indeed a first…

Creak…

The tightly shut Iron Door slowly opened, and a pair of red eyes suddenly appeared in the door’s gap, staring intently inside.