Before Pa Ji could turn around, a series of ethereal laughter suddenly echoed around him.
“Hahahaha…”
Accompanied by the laughter, the vanished Li Yalin reappeared. Her figure was moving at such an incredible speed that she seemed like a streaking afterimage. Forget about keeping up with her movements-even pinpointing her current position was already a daunting task.
In just the brief moment that Pa Ji froze in place, her hands suddenly swung down heavily and struck both sides of his face. Her massive arms seemed as though they were intent on crushing his skull, causing his body to sway and producing a muffled “thud” sound. Immediately after, cracks silently spread across her arms, and bright red blood began spurting out.
“Ah!”
Ling Mo, however, acted as if he hadn’t seen the splattered blood. At the same moment his fists made contact with Pa Ji’s head, he lunged forward, colliding with him head-on.
Just before the impact, Ling Mo lifted his knee abruptly and slammed it heavily into Pa Ji’s back.
“Crunch!”
The clear sound of a kneecap shattering rang out, but at the same time, Pa Ji’s upper body lurched forward uncontrollably. Like a sandbag, he was sent flying through the air.
“Roar!”
Only then did Pa Ji let out a howl, but before he could crash to the ground, Li Yalin’s figure suddenly appeared at his side in a flash.
“Heh heh…” Snake Kiss traced a glaring arc of silvery light in the air before landing squarely on the back of Pa Ji’s neck. He let out a guttural scream as he instantly lost control of his body. His once-tense muscles slackened immediately. In that moment, Li Yalin extended her long right leg and kicked upward from below, striking Pa Ji squarely in the abdomen.
Though her movements appeared graceful, and it didn’t seem like she used much force, the moment her foot connected, the Monster’s body curled like a shrimp and shot toward the ceiling like a cannonball, accompanied by a resounding “bam.”
“Crash!”
A large section of the ceiling panel came crashing down, along with debris, plaster, and lightbulbs. Pa Ji plummeted heavily to the ground, landing right at Li Yalin’s feet.
“Smack!”
Raising her right foot with ease, Li Yalin stomped Pa Ji back into the ground as he struggled to get up. “Good boy, don’t move now…”
“This kid sure has a rugged style, doesn’t he…” Ling Mo grumbled, vigorously shaking his injured knee before limping over.
“His evolution level’s lower than mine, so of course, he’s just a kid…” Li Yalin replied.
“Such strong defensive capabilities,” Ling Mo muttered, glancing down with a slightly astonished expression.
The coordinated attack between him and Li Yalin had been practically flawless, targeting all the weak points of the human body. Yet the butcher lying at Li Yalin’s feet still hadn’t succumbed. Blood spurted endlessly from its nose, mouth, and ears. A deep gash marked its neck, and even its back had caved in noticeably. However, one of its arms continued to twitch faintly, and its single blood-red eye rolled upward, fixing a steely glare on Ling Mo.
“Yalin…”
Just as Ling Mo began to speak, Li Yalin had already lifted Snake Kiss. With a swift stroke, a small mother hive appeared between her fingers.
She held the thumb-sized object up to examine it, a tinge of regret in her voice as she remarked, “It’s not a pure mother hive.”
“Looks like it’s in the process of transitioning from Gel to a mother hive,” Ling Mo said, leaning in to take a look. “After all, it’s from a variation zombie’s brain. The virus concentration seems quite high.” 𝙍ἈNO͍BË𝐬
“Mm.” Li Yalin nodded before flipping the corpse over with her foot and stabbing her blade into its abdomen.
When she pulled the blade out, a gush of mucus sprayed from the opened wound.
“Seems like the parasite is located in their weak spot after all. But this parasite’s level is too low-it’d be meaningless to dig it out.” Li Yalin scrutinized the blade for a moment before lifting her head to glance at the Ceiling. “This guy crawled in through the ventilation ducts. Strategy-wise, not bad. But unfortunately, he chose the wrong timing. Facing the two of us alone-wasn’t his win rate a bit too optimistic?”
Hearing Li Yalin’s unexpectedly serious analysis, Ling Mo couldn’t help but feel a bit unaccustomed. This must’ve been something she picked up from Xia Na. But it was only in such situations that she relied on her hunting instincts to think things through. In moments like these, she was no longer merely a person-she was a sly, ferocious viper, tracking her prey’s movements before delivering a fatal blow without hesitation. This was evident in her string of airborne moves just now. To execute them so cleanly and efficiently required extreme composure and an innate mastery of attack methods etched into her very being. Though the scene felt lengthy when described, in reality, it all happened in the blink of an eye.
Before Ling Mo could say anything else, Li Yalin had already turned her gaze toward the door, a glint of fervor flashing in her eyes. “No worries, there’s another one outside. Ling Mo, you were right-this is a great spot for a feast…”
“That’s not what I meant…” Ling Mo sighed helplessly, a wry smile forming on his lips.
Upon entering their zombie state, the personalities of any of the Three Girls would inevitably shift. This “state” essentially meant no longer suppressing their urges to feed and attack, transforming them entirely into hunting predators. In this mode, their inherent zombie instincts would surface easily, often resulting in a stark contrast to their usual selves.
Wild Zombies like Pa Ji, however, were different. Since they had no need to restrain themselves, they existed as full-fledged zombies at all times-pure, primal beasts. Even zombies like Fang Ying, who retained traces of human traits, were fundamentally dissimilar to Ye Lian and the others.
Having interacted with humans for a prolonged period-even sharing their lives-Ye Lian and the others had developed certain “quirks” during their evolution process. For now, these quirks seemed like a positive development, but as for what might happen over time, even Ling Mo couldn’t predict.
Pa Ji was dealt with in less than two minutes, but in that brief window, the canteen’s main doors finally reached their breaking point.
“Over here!” Ling Mo shouted.
A swarm of gestation pods rushed in, their hissing sounds once again reverberating throughout the entire canteen.
Amid the chaos, Xiong Ji emerged, his hulking frame resembling a true giant bear. Each heavy step he took reverberated with loud “thuds” as he lumbered toward Ling Mo and Li Yalin.
Unlike Pa Ji, who had fought alone, these Monsters clearly intended to overwhelm them in numbers.
Although Li Yalin was brimming with excitement, she understood the gravity of the situation. Upon hearing Ling Mo’s call, she immediately retreated.
As she moved back, Ling Mo seized the opportunity to charge forward. Without hesitation, he grabbed Pa Ji’s corpse and hurled it violently in Xiong Ji’s direction.
“Roar!”
Xiong Ji let out an enraged bellow, swinging his massive fist and smashing it squarely into the oncoming corpse.
As a fresh spray of blood filled the air, chaos erupted among the gestation pods below. They scrambled and swarmed, frantically fighting over the blood-soaked remains.
“Let’s move!”
Without sparing a glance behind him, Ling Mo shouted his command and sprang into motion.
The gestation pods’ frenzy over the corpse didn’t slow Xiong Ji down in the slightest. With an irritated growl, he cast aside two gestation pods blocking his path and accelerated toward Ling Mo and Li Yalin.
In addition, a handful of gestation pods also began pursuing them, though their numbers had dwindled considerably.
“If this keeps up, those little ones will eventually catch up. And after devouring Pa Ji’s corpse, they might even be able to detach from it…” Li Yalin remarked as she glanced over her shoulder.
When it came to these matters, Li Yalin undoubtedly had a better grasp than Ling Mo. However, Ling Mo responded with a cold chuckle, “It’s fine as long as we can keep them within a manageable number.”
“Why’s that?” Li Yalin asked, her confusion evident.
“We can use our sense of smell to avoid them in advance, but the Survivors don’t have that advantage. These parasites are difficult to detect with a psychic probe, and even their scent is hard to distinguish. Leaving them in the building might just come in handy later,” Ling Mo explained.
Li Yalin still appeared unconvinced, her expression showing she hadn’t entirely understood. Ling Mo simply smiled and decided not to elaborate further.
Inwardly, he exhaled heavily, thinking to himself, I hope I won’t have to use them. But if those Survivors make a move, they’ll have no one to blame but themselves for being ‘used.’
The Survivors’ capabilities remained a mystery, so Ling Mo considered this strategy just one of his contingency plans against them.
He had one undeniable advantage-they were dealing with Zombies. That was his trump card in any situation where he and others occupied the same environment.
Unfortunately for his opponents, they had no idea about this aspect of him. No matter how long they stayed hidden, observing from the shadows, there was no way they could uncover the secret of Ye Lian and the Three Girls. Even when they acted covertly, the Survivor assigned to monitor them never sensed anything out of the ordinary. Otherwise, the Survivors might have already abandoned their plans or entered the building earlier. The mere fact that they were only now beginning their operation showed there remained a critical blind spot in their understanding of Ling Mo’s group.
Ling Mo’s objective was to exploit that blind spot as much as possible while using this environment to create trouble for the Survivors.
“Hiding outside, tiptoeing around… they’re just waiting for us to serve as their pathfinders, huh? This ‘mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind’ plan is as treacherous as it gets…” He sneered inwardly at the thought.
Ling Mo and Li Yalin kept running toward the kitchen, but instead of slipping through the side door they’d used before, they headed straight into a pitch-black corridor.
Having surveyed the canteen’s layout earlier, they already knew the passage led to another exit.
This particular entrance was used for delivering supplies to the staff canteen, while farther down the corridor lay the rear door Ling Mo had previously entered when he controlled the Zombie Puppet. Back then, he’d simply followed the drag marks left by the corpse and hadn’t noticed the canteen’s location.
“This company’s layout is a total mess…” Ling Mo couldn’t help but mutter.
Li Yalin chuckled. “It’s because it’s an old building that was renovated. Xia Na mentioned that before.”
“Speaking of Xia Na… which elevator did she take when she went in?” Ling Mo suddenly furrowed his brow in thought and asked.
“It should be just ahead…” Li Yalin replied.