“Hahaha…” Butterfly laughed exaggeratedly, shaking his body rapidly. As he moved effortlessly, the butterflies on his body seemed almost alive, their wings continuously “flapping.” But instead of an enchanting sight, it was an overwhelmingly eerie scene. A living human being crawling with grotesque butterflies-no matter how one looked at it, it was a chilling image.
Ling Mo furrowed his brow and barely glanced at the sight before suddenly feeling a wave of dizziness. Even his control over the psychic tentacles faltered for an instant. At the same time, Butterfly’s laughter seemed to amplify in Ling Mo’s ears. The sound shifted unpredictably, at times masculine, at times feminine, and occasionally layered with an unsettling harmony. Over time, it began to feel as though countless butterflies were attempting to burrow into his brain through his ears.
“Damn it!”
Ling Mo immediately raised a hand to cover his ears and shook his head vigorously.
Even that brief moment of distraction was enough for most of his tentacles to miss their mark, with some even dissipating entirely.
“This guy has more tricks up his sleeve…” Ling Mo thought grimly. Truth be told, while the psychic tentacles offered incredible versatility in control, they were also heavily influenced by his mental state during use. If his focus wavered or he suffered any psychic attack, the precision of his control could easily be compromised. The more tentacles he deployed, the greater the vulnerability to such interference. However, the strength of the main body’s psychic power could mitigate this to some extent. If strong enough, one could even ignore such interference altogether or turn it against the opponent.
Of course, with Ling Mo’s current abilities, the latter two feats were still beyond his reach. In fact, up to this point, he had never encountered another mental ability superhuman or variation zombie capable of achieving that kind of mastery. In his estimation, only that elusive mental ability Infection Source-one he had never confronted-might have evolved to such heights.
“Che… If I ever get the chance, I must track down that Infection Source… This guy’s butterfly tattoos affect the mind through visual stimuli, and his entire body is practically covered in them. Anyone who looks at him physically can’t avoid being influenced… As for his laughter, it’s probably a special sonic wave generated by some kind of alteration to his vocal cords.”
Ling Mo quickly analyzed Butterfly’s new abilities. Meanwhile, the remaining tentacles had already resumed their chase, relentlessly closing the gap once more.
“Haha, you really should see the look on your face right now! How does it feel? Surprised, aren’t you? Did you really think I couldn’t handle a mental ability superhuman? Hahaha… But I suppose that’s to be expected. People like you who live comfortably with the ‘main group,’ with food, water, guns, and weapons, can’t possibly understand what it’s like for people like us, surviving in the gutters. We’re nothing like you. Every single day we live is earned by risking our lives. There’s no such thing as true safety-every hour of those twenty-four is a struggle. You’re living among humans, but we? We’re living among zombies!” Butterfly’s other face spun around abruptly, the half covered by a black wing bearing a strange expression-a mix of pride and resentment. His voice, which had fluctuated mysteriously before, shifted completely into the manic tone of a man consumed by madness.
Raising his arm, Butterfly suddenly twisted his body to the side with lightning speed, narrowly evading another tentacle.
“And you’re quite good at making sweeping judgments,” Ling Mo responded coldly. “The way we live is our choice. Even for people living in Survivor Camps, nothing comes for free. No one gets to just coast through. It seems like birds of a feather really do flock together. When it comes to things you don’t understand, you people really like to write them off entirely. You do it with zombies, and then you do it with your own kind as well.”
“Hahaha… What would you know!”
Butterfly dodged another tentacle, shrieking maniacally. “Is this all you’ve got? Is this really all you’re capable of-” His sentence was cut short as his eyes widened in shock. His body suddenly wavered, and he staggered retreating two steps.
During those moments, his gaze fell in disbelief towards his own feet… At several newly opened blood holes, crimson blood was slowly seeping out.
“Looks like you’re already struggling to cope with this one ability,” Ling Mo remarked.
Butterfly stumbled slightly, then let out a piercing scream. “Argh! When did you-“
“From the very beginning,” Ling Mo answered casually. “If it weren’t for that initial interference from you, you would’ve been impaled just now.”
His straightforward tone, instead of providing clarity, only caused Butterfly’s face to twist in rage. “You dared to hurt my sister-aaaaah!” His fist-covered in black butterflies crawling across his skin-clenched suddenly, and the butterflies bulged grotesquely from his flesh, becoming even more hideous and horrifying. Even from this distance, Ling Mo could feel the energy accumulating within that arm. 𝐫ΑƝƟβƐŝ
“Damn, he’s about to pull out some big move,” Ling Mo muttered to himself, even as the situation grew more critical.
However, his expression quickly turned serious. Despite planning and executing a sneak attack so meticulously, all he managed to do was pierce through Butterfly’s foot. It was a testament to Butterfly’s incredible reflexes. If Butterfly hadn’t instinctively stepped back in time, his head would’ve been skewered by now. Ling Mo felt a pang of regret but also heightened his wariness toward this cunning opponent.
“You remember what I said before, don’t you? About how we’re two people…” Butterfly suddenly spoke, his voice oddly calm for such a heated moment.
“What do you mean? Isn’t that just one of your delusions…” Ling Mo began, but before he could finish piecing it together, Butterfly lunged forward with terrifying speed, closing the gap between them in an instant.
At the start, the two were barely fifty meters apart-a distance that meant nothing to an opponent like Butterfly. All it took was the blink of an eye for him to charge dangerously close.
“If he gets into close range, it’s all over for him!” Tang Hao’s eyes widened in disbelief as he watched the scene unfold, excitement barely concealed in his voice.
From the moment their battle began, the only abilities Tang Hao had seen Ling Mo display were his “invisible attacks” and psychic interference. Even if Ling Mo had some other hidden abilities, they likely wouldn’t matter. As a mental ability superhuman whose close-range combat skills were no different from an ordinary human’s, if Butterfly managed to close the distance, it would almost certainly be Ling Mo’s end.
The real question now was, could Butterfly successfully charge forward? Would Ling Mo simply stand there and watch as his opponent drew near?
Tang Hao could barely contain his anticipation.
Even Xiao Bai, the mutation panda holding Tang Hao, let out a low “MeGu” sound of hesitation, as though it were debating whether it should intervene. But for a mutation panda, weighing such complex decisions was clearly a mental strain beyond its usual capabilities…
And yet, for the two combatants at the heart of this storm-Butterfly and Ling Mo-the situation could not feel more different to each of them.
The air felt sharp, yet paradoxically light. The moment Butterfly burst forward, Ling Mo sensed something akin to a thin blade slicing toward his eyes.
Leading the charge was that large butterfly on Butterfly’s face, joined by a dense swarm of red-and-black butterflies. They converged like a tidal wave, swarming toward Ling Mo in an endless mass. If Ling Mo were caught in this onslaught, the only thing those butterflies might leave behind as they departed would be a lifeless skeleton.
These weren’t ordinary butterflies. They were a zombified mutation.
“Tang Hao wasn’t entirely wrong,” Ling Mo realized, a chill running down his spine. “This mutation system ability has clearly been augmented and distorted through some transformation. On top of the original powers, it’s gained Zombie-like traits…”
The sensation of imminent danger washed over him like icy water. Without a moment’s hesitation, Ling Mo shut his eyes tightly.
No looking… No listening… If he allowed himself to be affected, the next second would undoubtedly be his last.
At that moment, Ling Mo’s psychic focus surged to an entirely new level. Countless blood-red tentacles erupted one after another from his psychic light cluster, as if an invisible storm was raging around him.
Meanwhile, Butterfly, who was charging at full speed, suddenly narrowed his eyes. The black half of his face remained wild and frenzied, while the red half revealed a flicker of something strange-uncertainty, perhaps.
“Even though I can’t see it, Butterfly’s sensitivity to changes in airflow is incredibly sharp… That’s how he’s managed to evade my psychic attacks so far. But what is it that’s surrounding him now?”
In less than a second, Ling Mo’s entire presence had undergone a dramatic transformation in Butterfly’s perception.
It felt as though endless chaotic and distorted currents of air were swirling uncontrollably around Ling Mo. Yet the man standing at the center of it all gave off an aura of unshakable composure, an immovable resolve that no force could disrupt.
“But even so… I can still dodge this!”