Chapter 94 – A Brush with Hell

It was clear that these two young men lacked much social experience. Although they were wary of other survivors, they were still a bit naive.

The craving for food made even the relatively cautious Tang Xiaoxue reveal his hand.

It was like telling a stranger back in the old days, “I have ten pounds of gold, but I can only trade one pound with you for some goods…” while that stranger had every ability to take all the gold by force.

In the Apocalypse, the value of medicine was no less than that of gold in the past.

These two young men were clearly a bit dim-witted… but their luck was good; they encountered Ling Mo, not someone like Xu Cai.

“How about this, I really want the medicine, but it seems you guys are in a tough spot too…”

Ling Mo couldn’t bring himself to just take it by force, because doing so would not only kill these two boys but also indirectly harm two innocent girls.

This was a matter of principle, and Ling Mo couldn’t cross that line. If he did, how would he be any different from people like Xu Cai?

Although he couldn’t steal it outright, the emergency medicine Tang Xiaoxue listed was indeed very useful. If he only took one set, it wouldn’t last long.

The key issue was that Ling Mo wasn’t in a rush to leave X City University. If they were to stay here for a while, once the medicine ran out, there would be nowhere to replenish it.

As he hesitated, a figure silently appeared at the door. Ling Mo didn’t need to turn around to know that it was Xia Na.

Although he didn’t control Xia Na’s actions, in essence, Xia Na was also his Zombie Puppet. The two shared a unique Psychic Link. Even without sharing their vision, Ling Mo had a vague sense of where Xia Na and Ye Lian were.

Originally, Xia Na had been searching for medicine on the second floor, but finding nothing, she came to look for Ling Mo. This was part of her instinctual behavior. Although she was close to Ye Lian, she didn’t like sharing a room with Lin Luanqiu, who was still human. She avoided contact with humans as much as possible, but Ling Mo was clearly an exception. However, this special treatment wasn’t just because of their Psychic Link.

Ling Mo wasn’t surprised at all, but when a shadow suddenly appeared at the door, He Pengpeng immediately screamed in fright, and Tang Xiaoxue quickly clamped a hand over his mouth. “Do you want to attract zombies?!”

“Don’t worry, this is Xia Na…” Ling Mo said with a smile. But as soon as he turned his head, he saw Xia Na dart past him!

In the brief moment she passed by, Ling Mo, using his extraordinary Psychic Power, noticed at once that Xia Na’s eyes had taken on a faint red hue!

Seeing this figure rushing towards them with a Long Knife in hand, Tang Xiaoxue’s face turned pale with fear. He yanked He Pengpeng back in retreat.

But there was no way they could be faster than Xia Na, who had entered her zombie state. Almost at the same moment they started to retreat, Xia Na was already upon them, her Long Knife raised high, ready to strike!

“Damn it!”

Although under his influence, Xia Na wouldn’t actively attack humans, the problem was that these two looked exactly like zombies!

As a Mutation Zombie, Xia Na had a strong aggressiveness towards her kind. While other Mutation Zombies or even Advanced Zombies wouldn’t attack their kind when they didn’t need food, Xia Na and Ye Lian were a bit different. Especially Xia Na, who retained memories and rationality. Having spent her days with Ling Mo killing zombies, her hostility towards zombies even surpassed that towards humans.

Though innate nature is hard to change, habits can be subtly influenced!

Ling Mo quickly regained his composure. He used his Puppet Control Ability to deepen his influence over Xia Na and simultaneously rushed forward to grab her arm, pulling her towards him.

Under this dual influence, Xia Na’s Long Knife veered off course at the last moment, narrowly missing He Pengpeng’s face.

“Thump! Thump! Thump!”

It took a while for Tang Xiaoxue and He Pengpeng to recover, their hearts nearly stopping from the shock.

Their legs felt like jelly, and their minds went blank. They had truly just brushed past the gates of hell…

Even after escaping the immediate danger, they stood there, trembling uncontrollably, leaning on each other for support.

Xia Na, now pulled back into Ling Mo’s embrace, still stared intently at the two “zombies” with her slightly reddened eyes.

Ling Mo himself was shaken. If he hadn’t stopped Xia Na in time, these two hapless souls would probably be decapitated by now.

Originally, Ling Mo didn’t think much of their “disguise,” assuming it wouldn’t easily fool zombies. But now it seemed quite effective—it had at least triggered Xia Na, a Mutation Zombie, to attack.

This proved that if one wanted to survive, they could find ways to do so. The question was whether they had tried hard enough.

Although the direction of their efforts might be something most people couldn’t bear…

“Alright, alright, don’t be so tense,” Ling Mo said, while soothing Xia Na. He then turned to the two terrified boys, “Don’t worry, she won’t attack you anymore.”

He Pengpeng shuddered and asked in a trembling voice, “Is… is she your girlfriend? She scared me to death…”

“You guys are the ones who are really scary!” Ling Mo glared at him and said, “She just mistook you for zombies. While your disguises might fool real zombies, running into other survivors could easily get you killed. You should think of another plan.” Ling Mo advised them kindly.

In truth, what he was thinking was that even if survivors didn’t attack them, encountering Mutation Zombies or regular zombies driven mad by hunger would eventually spell their doom.

Tang Xiaoxue had also snapped out of his stupor by now. He glanced at Xia Na with lingering fear. Although her eyes seemed frighteningly cold and slightly red, his fixed perception of zombies kept him from suspecting her true identity. Besides, they hadn’t fully recovered from the shock yet.

“Not all survivors would charge at zombies like you two. Usually, wouldn’t they just turn and run?” Tang Xiaoxue said with a deeply frustrated expression.

This was the first time they had encountered survivors since donning their disguises, and within a single day, they had nearly been killed twice.

“…” Ling Mo was momentarily speechless. He thought to himself that he hadn’t charged in to attack, and Xia Na’s behavior as a Mutation Zombie was just her nature.

“Here’s what we’ll do. I have friends downstairs. You should clean yourselves up and then bring the medicine to me. We can discuss how to trade it then.”

Ling Mo wanted to say more, but seeing their current state, he realized they probably couldn’t think straight for a while. So, he left it at that.