So fast!
Ling Mo instinctively dodged to the side, but the tongue still grazed past his ear. The barbed tip whipped back swiftly, and immediately Ling Mo felt a warm stream trickling down the cheek of the Zombie Puppet.
Then came a series of unsettling “click click click” sounds. Out of the corner of his eye, Ling Mo caught a glimpse of it, and a wave of disgust swept over him.
The tongue had coiled around half an ear, retracted lightning-fast to Fang Ying’s chest, and disappeared back into the bloody, gaping wound. Moments later, there was a squirming at the wound, and given the proximity, Ling Mo could clearly see what was happening…
That wasn’t mere squirming at all. It was a mouth chewing! The only reason it wasn’t immediately obvious was because the colors blended in, along with all the blood.
Inside this Progenitor Zombie’s body, there was another parasite hiding!
But compared to the one inside Xiao Yue Er’s body, this one was clearly much more ferocious!
Moreover, the reason Fang Ying was still alive despite such grievous injuries was likely due to the presence of this parasite.
As Fang Ying and her parasite lunged toward him again, Ling Mo hurled the parasite in his hand directly at her.
“Whoosh!”
The tongue shot out in an instant, piercing through the parasite effortlessly before dragging it back into Fang Ying’s body without a moment’s hesitation.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Ling Mo staggered backward, collapsing near the shattered window. Panting, he glanced over at Fang Ying.
After the parasite appeared, Fang Ying had visibly become more frenzied. She swung her arms wildly, laughing hysterically and shouting, “I didn’t do anything wrong! I just wanted to survive! Even if it meant becoming a zombie, I didn’t want to just die… It’s all your fault. It’s all your fault! I was supposed to keep living, to escape this place soon…”
“But having it happen earlier is good too. As long as I consume you-consume your main body-I’ll reach my goal in no time…” Fang Ying’s voice came out broken and erratic, her words increasingly nonsensical. Her eyes grew blood red, and the hardened shell on her body began to pulsate ominously.
“Damn it. She’s about to transform,” Ling Mo immediately realized.
But the more dire the situation became, the calmer his mind grew.
“Not running anymore? This body of yours is nothing more than an insect I could crush anytime…” Fang Ying sneered. After experiencing an ambush before, she kept herself aligned in a straight line with Ling Mo. This way, the Ambusher wouldn’t be able to spot her… Even if Ling Mo was willing to abandon this body, the moment he got hit, she would still have time to react and evade.
Ling Mo was well aware of this.
Moreover, even if Fang Ying couldn’t completely dodge, it didn’t mean that a single shot would be enough to deal her a fatal blow.
Her chest cavity was already blown apart, yet she was still alive. Unless her head was obliterated, there didn’t seem to be any other way to kill her…
“Getting a perfect headshot is too risky, I need to think of another way… Damn!”
Just as Ling Mo was contemplating his next move, his vision blurred suddenly, and at the same time, a twisting pain radiated from his abdomen.
Fang Ying stood in front of him, her chest splitting open into what looked like a massive, gaping mouth. A tongue extended from within, the other end piercing into Ling Mo’s stomach. As the sharp twisting sensation intensified, Ling Mo immediately felt like something was being ripped out of his body. Even though it was technically the Zombie Puppet that was injured, the visceral connection made Ling Mo’s main body-still in the small building-break out in a cold sweat.
“Hehe… It’s not entirely wrong to call me a sister, don’t you think? She and I… we’ve completely merged into one. I am her, and she is me, right? And you’ll become one with me too. Just like now. Once I consume this Avatar of yours, I’ll be able to follow the trail and find your main body… Hmm? Wait, those weren’t your main body? Oh… your main body is actually-“ Ŕãℕố𝐛Е§
Before she could finish, Fang Ying’s mocking smile suddenly froze.
Her eyes widened as she stared at Ling Mo, as though puzzled by what he was doing. “You… what are you trying to do?”
While his abdomen was being continuously torn apart, Ling Mo suddenly reached out and shoved his hand directly into Fang Ying’s chest.
Her massive, gaping mouth immediately clamped down on his hand, but Ling Mo forced it deeper inside without hesitation.
“You…” Fang Ying sensed something was amiss just as she noticed Ling Mo’s face contort into a stiff, strained smile.
“No…”
“Ye Lian, shoot!” Ling Mo’s voice, amplified through their mental link, was shouted with full force.
“Bang!”
The sensation of a bullet ripping through flesh reverberated instantly. Ling Mo could distinctly feel the bullet piercing through his Zombie Puppet’s body, traveling along his arm and continuing deep into Fang Ying’s chest…
As Ling Mo’s hand became a mangled mess, Fang Ying’s chest burst apart again in a gruesome explosion of blood and flesh.
“Ah!”
Amidst Fang Ying’s piercing screams, she clutched her chest, her expression a mix of disbelief and agony.
A torrent of blood, mingled with shattered fragments, gushed uncontrollably from her chest. Amongst it, a significant amount of translucent mucus seeped out as well…
The tongue that had attacked Ling Mo was already torn to shreds, and even the parasite had been reduced to a mangled mass of flesh.
“Ah… ah…” Fang Ying’s mouth gaped open, the corners trembling as she helplessly held the blood flowing from her chest. In a soft, fragile whisper, she murmured, “Sister…”
It took her a full two or three seconds to process what had just happened. Then, as if awakening from a daze, her gaze shifted to Ling Mo. Her face twisted into an expression of pure rage and shock, as she let out a guttural, vengeful scream: “AHH!!”
But just as her scream pierced the air, Ling Mo, sitting by the shattered window, smiled faintly and coughed up a mouthful of blood. His body slipped down against the edge of the window frame like a discarded rag doll.
“Boom!”
Fang Ying’s head exploded like a watermelon, scattering fragments everywhere. Her lifeless body swayed in place for a brief moment before pitching forward and collapsing onto the ground with a dull thud.
Dead.
Ling Mo slumped onto the floor, his back still leaning against the wall, staring in stunned silence at Fang Ying’s corpse.
Everything had happened so fast. Only now did Ling Mo have the chance to think back-if he had hesitated for even a fraction of a second, if Ye Lian and he hadn’t been so perfectly in sync, then the outcome… Thinking about Fang Ying’s earlier words sent icy chills racing down Ling Mo’s spine.
She had been able to pinpoint his true main body just by using the parasite to attack the Zombie Puppet…
The mere thought of countless gestation pods swarming out of the Rosen Company’s facility, surging toward the small two-story building where his true body hid… The horrifying vision sent shivers coursing across Ling Mo’s scalp.
Thankfully… it had worked…
Less than two minutes later, another zombie, clearly in a frenzy, charged toward the door and burst inside without hesitation.
As soon as Ling Mo saw this zombie, a wave of relief flooded over him as the Zombie Puppet he had been controlling began convulsing erratically.
Moments later, the Puppet’s previously alert and conscious gaze dulled entirely. Its body twitched a few final times before becoming completely still, leaving its lifeless eyes wide open.
“Phew…”
The new arrival wasn’t just any random zombie-it was another one of Ling Mo’s previously positioned puppets. Anticipating how dire the situation was with his heavily damaged Zombie Puppet, Ling Mo had summoned this one as an emergency backup.
Now, observing the injured Zombie Puppet’s wounds from a different perspective, Ling Mo couldn’t help but feel a renewed shock at Fang Ying’s terrifying power.
The blood-drenched Zombie Puppet slumped helplessly on the floor, a massive, gaping wound split open across its abdomen. From the outside looking in, the sight was nothing short of hair-raising-a hollow, mangled abdominal cavity, emptied of everything except an endless outpour of blood…
“Unbelievable…” Ling Mo thought to himself, still reeling from the extent of the damage.
As expected of a Progenitor Zombie-compared to those gestation pods, her close-combat capabilities were on an entirely different level. She was nearly unkillable, impossible to approach safely… Thinking it over, Fang Ying was completely countered by Ye Lian’s abilities. If it had been Xia Na or Li Yalin coming to fight her instead, they might have been in for a grueling and uncertain battle.
But without Ling Mo creating an opportunity for Ye Lian, spotting Fang Ying’s weakness, and even sacrificing his Zombie Puppet in the process, Ye Lian’s long-range attack could never have succeeded.
“That’s why… we’re a team,” Ling Mo reflected silently, before directing the Zombie Puppet to lower its head and examine Fang Ying’s corpse.
Suppressing his revulsion, he flipped Fang Ying over and shifted his focus to her chest.
Come to think of it, the idea of targeting the parasite had come to him thanks to Fang Ying’s own words.
That thing… was one with her.
If that was the case, then some of Fang Ying’s vital organs might have been shared with the parasite.
It turns out his theory was correct.
Fang Ying’s chest had been completely blown apart, and aside from the remnants of the parasite, there was next to no sign of internal organs.
Several tubular structures on the parasite’s remains were tightly connected to her, as though it had been a functional, mobile organ integrated into her body.
One noteworthy detail was that the surface of Fang Ying’s skin resembled a layer of rubber-it was both hard and slightly elastic. Beneath the rubbery skin lay her muscles and blood vessels. This was evidently a form of skin mutation, which made Fang Ying a variation zombie.
After staring at the gruesome void in Fang Ying’s chest for a moment longer, Ling Mo averted his gaze and extended his hand.
The sound of viscous liquid being stirred echoed faintly as Ling Mo’s hand plunged deep into the cavity. He rummaged for a short while before letting out a relieved and mildly excited sigh as he withdrew his hand.
“Thank goodness… Just as I thought…”
Wiping his hand on an elegant but blood-streaked white dress that Fang Ying had been wearing, Ling Mo then eagerly opened his palm in front of him.
Nestled there was a blood-red crystal, roughly the size of a thumbnail. It was encased in a thin membrane, but even through the protective layer, a heavy viral scent wafted ominously into the air.
“A viral hive…” Ling Mo murmured.
Quickly snapping back to focus, Ling Mo cast his eyes downward and began scanning the surrounding ground.
Within seconds, his hand darted out, catching another identical crystal from the sticky bloodstained floor. His expression brightened as he exclaimed, “There really are two!”
To discover two viral hives inside the body of a single zombie was nearly unheard of-an unimaginable occurrence under normal circumstances.
But with Fang Ying? It had actually happened.
Ever since first laying eyes on the parasite, Ling Mo’s mind had been toying with this possibility…
“Two of them… It’s like taking down two zombies at nearly dominant level…” he murmured, his voice tinged with amazement.
But before Ling Mo could feel a sense of triumph or think he’d “hit the jackpot,” his expression turned suddenly grave.
From inside the staff canteen, the sharp sound of a scream tore through the air…
