Seeing that Tang Hao was willing to cooperate, Ling Mo didn’t waste any more words. He waved at Xiao Bai, the mutation panda, who immediately shook its head before lifting Tang Hao up amidst his pitiful screams.
“We’ll head toward Yu Shiran’s direction first. As for your questions, I’ll get the answers along the way. That’s all I’ll say for now,” Ling Mo said coldly as he glanced at Tang Hao.
Tang Hao gritted his teeth and nodded, pain etched across his face. Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced nervously at Xiao Bai’s claws. Those sharp, menacing nails were gripping his shoulder blade, seemingly ready to crush his bones with the slightest force. Clearly, this was both a warning and a form of intimidation. With an invisible knife essentially hanging over his head, Ling Mo didn’t need to spell out his threats any further.
“So… he’s just pretending to be calm. In reality, he’s anxious… He might even be planning to use me as a hostage…” Tang Hao speculated inwardly.
The thought that Ling Mo’s actions could be akin to a lamb willingly walking into a tiger’s den made Tang Hao feel a twisted sense of excitement. He even found himself silently chanting in his heart, “Heh, serve you right. Go die, both you and that little girl. I want to see you two ripped apart right before my eyes…”
On the surface, however, Tang Hao presented a resigned demeanor, even allowing a hint of dazed helplessness to flicker in his eyes. But deep down, whether in his thoughts or the subtle nuances of his expression, these were his truest emotions at the moment.
“Hmph…” As they descended the stairs, Ling Mo cast Tang Hao another indifferent glance, seemingly unintentional.
Even though his interactions with Tang Hao had been brief, Ling Mo already understood part of his character. On one hand, Tang Hao had been affected by zombie-like tendencies, making him brutally savage. On the other hand, his inherent human nature was cowardly and timid, incapable of decisive action. These two conflicting personalities coexisted in tenuous balance, but with the slightest external pressure, the façade would easily crumble.
Just as it had moments ago…
Of course, such a person carried immense unpredictability. Even though Tang Hao had ostensibly given up resisting, Ling Mo refused to let his guard down.
Meanwhile, in the elevator shaft of the Rosen Company.
For the past three minutes, Li Yalin had noticed the silence from the Zombie Puppet. She also stopped speaking and concentrated on climbing upward through one opening after another. At each opening, she would crawl in to carefully investigate.
This made their progress noticeably slower than Xia Na’s had been previously. However, as the pursuer, Li Yalin clearly preferred to proceed with caution, unwilling to miss any clues due to carelessness.
From their earlier analysis, she and Ling Mo had concluded that Xia Na likely climbed into one of the openings. Combining this with the things Xia Na had said before she disappeared, Li Yalin had essentially arrived at a conclusion.
“Xia Na must have followed something in,” Li Yalin said abruptly after pondering for a while. She turned her head to address the Zombie Puppet just behind her.
The Zombie Puppet’s near-mechanical climbing motion froze for a brief moment, and its vacant eyes blinked a couple of times before a faint trace of vitality emerged. “Hmm… Based on that, we can imagine her entrance probably startled something. By the time she had climbed inside, it was already watching her. Xia Na must have noticed it too, so…”
Looking upward, Li Yalin continued, “So they’re likely in a chase-a pursuit and a retreat. If that’s the case, whatever it is must still be climbing upward. With Xia Na’s speed… she’s probably able to catch up by the second or third opening from here.”
“So you’re saying Xia Na most likely went through the next-to-next opening?” Ling Mo asked, a bit surprised. Forget everything else-just estimating “Xia Na’s speed” was already enough to stump him completely. Probably only these zombie “sisters,” who spent 24/7 together, could remember each other’s average speeds so precisely and use them to calculate likely positions.
If it had been Xia Na herself, she likely would’ve deduced this conclusion the moment she entered. But the fact that Li Yalin had managed to figure it out still gave Ling Mo quite a pleasant surprise. After fully transitioning into her zombie state, this Femme Fatale had indeed undergone significant changes…
“Maybe this state of hers… is the one where Senior Sister feels most at ease and comfortable,” Ling Mo thought to himself. “In her day-to-day human interactions, she likely suppresses her true self on purpose… Could this stark contrast be some kind of side effect or lingering aftereffect?”
Ling Mo was deep in thought when Li Yalin suddenly fixed her gaze on him and asked, “Ling Mo, is something wrong?”
“Uh…”
“Your breathing is irregular,” Li Yalin added, her tone matter-of-fact.
“Ah, well…” Ling Mo cleared his throat and paused for a moment before replying, “There’s something going on outside…”
“Is it troublesome?” Li Yalin tilted her head as she asked. Judging from the look on her face, however, it seemed like she would’ve preferred to ask, “Is it fun?” instead. ṙ𝘈𐌽ȪᛒĘS̈
Ling Mo shook his head, pausing briefly before looking at Li Yalin and asking, “Senior Sister, do you usually feel stifled? I mean… being around humans must be exhausting for zombies, right? So the moment you’re away from humans and have a chance to fight alongside your kind, do you feel relaxed and excited?”
“Hmm…” Li Yalin thought about it seriously for a moment before suddenly breaking into a smile. “Actually, you’re not entirely right.”
“Ah?”
“If you weren’t here, being with other humans would definitely be exhausting…”
“Uh… That’s kind of an unexpected thing to say right now…” Ling Mo scratched his hair awkwardly. Senior Sister really was bold…
“Even though we’re kind of like an old married couple by now, I guess in essence, we’ve never really had a proper…”
Before Ling Mo could finish his sentence, Li Yalin interrupted him, “But ever since you’ve been around, the flesh of other humans doesn’t seem appealing at all. As for feeling stifled… seeing something but not being able to eat it would obviously be frustrating. Still, if I can occasionally take a lick or two, it feels much better… And excitement… I’m almost always excited! Sometimes, just watching you swallow nervously gets me all fired up! But don’t worry, I won’t eat you. Hehe…”
“…Ha… Haha.” Ling Mo stumbled for a moment, nearly losing his balance and falling off the steel cable.
Such a brutal reality-tears almost welled up in his eyes…
“What about Ye Lian and the others?” Ling Mo tried changing the topic.
This time, Li Yalin didn’t even have to think about it. She simply shook her head and answered, “Of course they’re different from me! But as for feeling stifled… definitely not. Look, even when I ran into humans this time, I didn’t act immediately, right? It was hard at first, but once you get used to it, it’s much easier. Oh, by the way, Xia Na was the one who taught me this technique. Do you want to learn it too?”
“What is it?” Ling Mo suddenly had a bad feeling.
“Each time you see a human, just imagine them as a pair of shorts. That way, you won’t feel hungry at all,” Li Yalin said with a very serious expression.
“Most people imagine a cabbage rather than a pair of shorts…”
“I’ve never even seen a whole cabbage before!”
“Are you serious? What about when you were human?”
“Nope… I never cooked.”
“This must be fate! Same here!”
“Really? Hehe, let me think… Ah, that’s right, I always ordered takeout.”
“I always got Ye Lian to cook for me.”
“That’s kind of a special connection too!”
Clang!
In the middle of their conversation, a faint noise suddenly echoed from one of the openings above. Though the sound was subtle, in the enclosed elevator shaft, it was strikingly clear. Ling Mo and Li Yalin exchanged a glance before immediately quickening their pace, climbing upward with urgency.
The source of the sound was coming from the very opening that Xia Na was likely to have entered!
…
“Should I speak now?” In the alley, Tang Hao, who was being dragged along, couldn’t help but ask.
His shoulder was on the verge of going completely numb from being gripped so tightly, yet Ling Mo showed no intention of questioning him. The youth just kept walking forward, his head tilted slightly upward, rubbing his eyebrows as if lost in thought…
“So that sharp gaze of his-don’t tell me that’s how he polishes it, by pinching his own brows!” Tang Hao grumbled internally, then a trace of confusion flickered on his face. “Strange, why does it feel like this guy seems a bit… distracted? No, not exactly distracted… more like his focus isn’t as sharp as usual.”
“Divided attention! That’s it-he’s distracted!”